Bad Reputation
by NotYourLoveMonkey
Summary: Bruce Wayne is a playboy and Gotham's golden boy. Or at least that's what it seems. Ann Samuels has been burned by love and hates both secrets and womanizers. He's looking for his next cover and she just wants to be left alone. It may seem like an impossible combination, but when life brings the two of them together, anything could happen. Post TDK, Bruce/OC.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everybody! First thing that I want to say is that I'm a huge Batman fan, I've been writing this particular story in my native tongue (which is Spanish) but there aren't many readers there, so I decided to try and translate it so more people would enjoy it.

That brings me to my second point, I'm in **desperate need** of a beta reader. I translated this on my own since I have a good English level, but I'm a little picky and I know some of the expressions and the grammar aren't perfect and I'd like to have someone help me with that. If anyone is available, you just have to PM me :) This will be filled with typos because my freaking corrector kept trying to correct the text in Spanish when it was so obviously in English...

Nothing more to say, I hope you enjoy the story and if you feel like it, please leave me a review!

_::REVISED:: 04.27.15_

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**Disclaimer:** I own nothing that you can recognize, I only own my OC Ann.

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**CHAPTER 1**

A shift on Gotham General Hospital's ER was always chaotic; it wasn't one of the city's most important hospitals for nothing. It should also be taken into account that it was a Saturday night and apparently the most stupid and brainless people had chosen to make their dumbest mistakes that very night.

Doctor Ann Samuels knew that very well, although it was her first time in the ER as a chief resident, which added a little extra stress to the situation. But Ann was always one to handle well those kinds of situations. Well, most of the times anyway.

While she was stitching an open eyebrow, caused by some dumbass who had decided that lighting firecrackers on a living room was a superb idea, she saw Jack White, her mentor and boss, with an angry expression on his face. She cursed quietly as she saw how he was looking for her in the crowded ER. She tried to act aloof and see if he didn't realize she was there, so she kept stitching in hopes of being ignored, but it was pointless. 3 seconds later, her boss was looking right at her disapprovingly, wearing a tux and the same angry face as before.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, clearly in a bad mood.

She stared at him, trying to look innocent, without letting go of the needle with which she was stitching the poor guy up.

"Working?" Ann answered.

"Your shift ended an hour and a half ago." replied her boss, crossing his arms.

"I know! But the ER was bursting and I just couldn't leave." She tried to justify herself. "I'm chief resident now, remember? You promoted me!" she kept talking under the surprised look of her patient, who now realized she was wearing high heels and a little black dress under her white coat.

"Jamison is here to take your place. Ann, one of the most important qualities of a leader is knowing how and when to delegate. Besides, if I have to go to this insufferable nonsense to get funding then you're coming with me." He said, clearly irritated, but revealing the real reason for his pressuring her.

Ann grumbled and finished stitching up her patient. She made a gesture to Dorothy, one of her favorite nurses, so she could help him go through all the paperwork and get back home to rest.

"Jack, you know I hate those stupid parties." She protested while walking to the locker room. "And I suck at them too. I've never been a good kiss-ass."

"Believe me, I hate them too but it comes with the promotion" he answered following her, as if he was afraid she'd run away again. "Have you really stitched an open eyebrow dressed like that? What if you got a stain on that dress?"

"It would have been terrible, you know, having to go back home and change. It would have gotten so late and there would have been no taxis available… So I would have ended up staying home instead of going to the party. That would be a pity, huh?" said Ann, taking off her coat and hanging it on her locker.

Jack rolled his eyes at her. "Look, it's really simple. We smile, shake some hands, eat some ridiculously tiny appetizers, and then we come back and make fun of all the people." They started walking towards the exit and he could see how Ann wasn't entirely convinced. "Would you rather have stayed and done colonoscopies all night long?"

"Yes, I would have." Ann answered, covering herself with an elegant jacket.

"You can't be serious!" Jack laughed.

"I hope that shows you the degree of commitment I have with tonight's event." The girl stood next to her boss' car, waiting for him to open it. "My feet already hurt like hell, and this hasn't even begun yet."

Jack used his key to open the car and when they both were seated, he turned the engine on. The die was cast. "Maybe they would hurt less if you hadn't been checking on patients for more than an hour."

"You're right. When you're right, you're right." Ann replied, finally giving up the fight. She looked at Jack sitting next to her while he was driving to the damn benefit. He had always been her guide, ever since she arrived to Gotham General as an intern. With his paternal tone and at 57 years old, he was one of the best teachers the hospital had, and she wouldn't have gone the party if anyone other than Jack had asked her.

She was regretting it already.

* * *

When they arrived to the place where the benefit took place, a valet took Jack's car and politely invited them to go inside the building. Ann didn't stop chewing her lip during the never ending ride on the elevator. The party was in the attic. When the elevator doors opened, they reached what could only be described as a party nirvana, if you were into those kinds of parties of course, which Ann wasn't. It was filled with people, the music rumbled and the waiters wouldn't stop serving food and drinks.

Ann soon took a glass of champagne from a tray, under the disapproving gaze of her boss. She shrugged her shoulders and took a sip looking the other way. Her level of boredom was incredible. The girl didn't like how the whole place reeked of false kindness. Everybody seemed happy and unable to not tell the world. There were some people from the hospital, but none of which she considered friends; They were merely acquaintances.

She sighed and stood next to Jack the whole night, glancing at each other knowingly whenever someone said something really dumb. Her feet were killing her, and she just couldn't wait to take those damn shoes off. She missed her comfy hospital sneakers.

And then it happened. Ann, being distracted, hadn't even realized that a small group of people had gathered around her until she heard her name being said by Jack, which made her turn around. That's when she saw the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life.

Her brain stopped for a second while she tried to process all the information: where she was, with whom she was with, and what she was supposed to be doing in that moment.

"This is doctor Ann Samuels, recently appointed chief resident." She heard

Jack introducing her but was unable to look away from those deep eyes that were staring at her amusingly, as if they knew what they were provoking inside her. Jack looked at her, a little surprised, and smiled again. "This is Mister Bruce Wayne, Ann, one of our greatest benefactors and tonight's host."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Samuels." said Bruce, with a calm and sexy voice that got under Ann's skin quickly.

She smiled and shook his hand, trying not to look too stupid. "The pleasure is mine, Mister Wayne." she mumbled, not even sure how.

So this was Bruce Wayne, Gotham's most desired and rich playboy. His scandals were constantly on the tabloids. Ann had heard of some of them because her best friend, Susie, was an unconditional fan of that kind of press, and particularly Bruce Wayne's. He was there with one of those ridiculous bimbos that followed him wherever he went.

She had seen pictures on some magazines, but she had to admit that the man looked way better in person, more so when he was wearing a suit like that. She was sure he looked even better without it. She mentally kicked herself for thinking such an unhelpful thing and tried to get back to reality.

"What's your specialty, Doctor Samuels?" asked and older woman next to her. She probably should know her name because Jack had probably mentioned it earlier, but her brain still refused to cooperate.

"I'm a cardiothoracic surgeon." she answered, all smiles, trying to put herself back together.

"So hearts are your thing, right?" asked Bruce Wayne, who appeared to be having the time of his life.

She tilted her head, surprised by the question. "I guess you could say that."

He smirked "That doesn't surprise me one bit."

The alarms in Ann's head all went on at the same time. Was he flirting? With her? When he had his arm around that stupid bimbo's waist? She started getting angry and that anger helped her begin to get rid of her starstruckness.

She laughed a little bit, ironically.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom." and she left, leaving the conversation at its most interesting point and his boss astonished.

She got inside the bathroom just in case some of those people were still looking at her. Once inside, surrounded by rich women and pneumatic bimbos like Wayne's date, she started getting really angry.

Going to that party had definitely been an atrocious idea. That stupid incident had done nothing but remind her of Jeremy, or Jeremy "the bastard" Jenner, as Susie and her were calling him now. He was also very handsome and had also some very unfortunate tendencies, such as flirting with pretty girls (sometimes he went even further), anytime Ann wasn't around, which had ended their three year relationship almost 9 months ago, leaving Ann brokenhearted and still trying to find herself again, which wasn't easy since she had to see the bastard almost every day at work.

Did she have some sort of sign on her face? Was that it? Did she look like the kind of girl someone could try to score with while having another one practically sticking her tongue in their ear? She knew Bruce Wayne's bad reputation with women and maybe he would have succeeded with anybody else, but he had found a tough cookie. Ann was already 27 and she was strong and independent, or at least that's what she thought. Maybe she was sending the world a whole lot different signals.

Anyway, she tried to calm down and after some deep breaths, she convinced herself that the whole world wasn't against her. She left the loo but then was unable to find Jack again in the crowd. She walked through the room trying to look for him, but she just couldn't find him. After a while, she just got tired of answering stupid questions from stupid people so when she found a little door open to the terrace she didn't think twice. The heat had started to get to her, and her feet were killing her.

Surprisingly, the terrace was empty, so after looking at both sides to check no one else was coming, she sat down on a bench next to a little fountain and took her shoes off her feet, letting out a small moan of relief as she did so.

She massaged her little feet and felt how the tension slowly abandoned her body until a voice startled her.

"Am I interrupting?" she heard someone say behind her.

She turned around and found herself alone with Gotham's golden boy, Bruce Wayne, minus the blonde bimbo this time. Why did these things have to happen to her? Without Jack there to control her sharp tongue, she would surely end up insulting him and losing the funding for the hospital.

"Of course not." she said, trying to sound normal.

He smiled on her direction and she was thankful to be seated, because she was sure her knees were weakening. How the hell did he manage to do that? Was that even legal?

She observed how Bruce Wayne sat next to her and stared at her bare feet with an expression both amused and incredulous. She could barely believe what was happening so she tried to fill the silence with the first thing that came to her mind. "Where's your date, Mister Wayne?" she asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Tiffany? Oh, I think she was talking to an oncologist. I'm not sure." he answered nonchalantly. "And please, don't call me Mister Wayne. It's just Bruce." He told her with that stupid and perfect smile that made her defenses melt away more and more by the second.

"Alright… Bruce." said Ann, feeling the instinct of running away and closing the door behind her.

"Much better. Ann, isn't it?" asked Bruce curiously. She nodded and he kept talking "It's a beautiful name."

"Thank you." She answered, feeling defensive.

"You're very welcome." Bruce said, then shut up and stared at the view. Gotham's night was dark but the city was full of lights, which made it all the

more beautiful. Ann didn't know how to act so she shut up as well and looked at the view, trying to imitate him. "It can be intimidating, huh?" he broke the silence and turned to look at her. "The people I mean".

"Intimidating is not the word I would use to describe them." she replied.

"Really?" Bruce seemed to be really amused. "Then what word would you use?"

"I don't know, maybe… annoying." Ann's true personality surfaced, she was unable not to be herself for more than fifteen minutes. "Boring… Stupid?" she kept counting, who suddenly realized who she was talking to. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to insult you or your friends. It's just that I don't feel comfortable in here."

Bruce laughed "I'm not insulted, and they're not my friends." he answered soothingly.

Then Ann looked at him in the eyes and she could almost glimpse a little boy, innocent and sweet, who just wanted someone to hold his hand to cross the street.

"Oh." answered her, not really knowing what else to say. "In that case, I stand by what I just said."

That comment brought another smile to Bruce's face. "How long have you worked in the Gotham General?"

"Almost six years." she answered, letting herself go with the flow of the conversation.

"Six years and you're already chief resident?" he asked with admiration. "You must be really good at what you do."

"I don't really know how I got the promotion, it came as a surprise, but…" she stopped talking and he could almost see her wince in pain.

"What?"

"We lost a lot of great people after the explosion, a lot of doctors left the Hospital, some of them even left town." She confessed, going back to that horrible day.

He stood silent for a second "I'm sorry for reminding you of that day." And myself he thought. A lot of things came back to his mind when he remembered that particular day.

"It's okay, you didn't know." she smiled a true smile for the first time that night.

That comment made him smile too, the billionaire chose that moment to slightly brush her face, he had seen a rebel curl of her hair out of place and he took it between his fingers and put it behind her ear.

The intimate gesture made Ann stand up abruptly and walk away from Bruce Wayne as if he had the plague.

"I'm sorry…" said Bruce.

"No, don't apologize, Mister Wayne." she interrupted, distancing herself from him. "Listen, I know all about your reputation, I know what you must be thinking and I'm really flattered that you chose to grant me with you

magnificent presence tonight," she said unable to hide her sarcasm anymore. "But I'm not that kind of woman, okay? So don't waste any more time on me, I'm sure you'll get much more from any other woman tonight."

Bruce Wayne, contrary to what she had thought, still smiled "Ann…"

"Ann!" shouted Jack White, entering the scene as if he was her own knight in shining armor. "Do you want to leave?" asked him casually.

She sighed with relief "Yes, please." she turned around to look at Wayne "I have to go now, thank you for the party and everything." she said, putting her shoes back on her feet and leaving after Jack faster than the speed of light.

Bruce then stood on the balcony, on his own, reliving what had happened just a few seconds ago. And then he just laughed a little bit. That…That had been like a breath of fresh air to his boring and monotonous social life. He went back to the party and decided to keep up appearances for a little while longer. Then he left with Alfred and his real night begun.

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Thoughts? ;)


	2. Chapter 2

First of all I'd like to say THANK YOU! Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favourites! They mean the world to me, you guys are the best. Thanks to that guest reviewer from today also, since I'm unable to reply to you ;)

Second... I still need a **beta reader,** because I know the grammar needs some polishing (like A LOT), I've messaged a few but I haven't gotten any responses yet, so if you're available, send me a private message!

Just in case anybody's interested, this chapter was written to _Sing_ by Ed Sheeran &amp; Pharell, and the previous one (which I've edited a few times to correct some mistakes) to Kelly Clarkson's _Bad Reputation (_if you haven't heard it yet you should, it sums up the idea I have for this story pretty well), which also gave me the idea for the title of the story.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well! I'll be anxiously waiting for your reviews :)

_:: REVISED :: 07.03.15_

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**Disclaimer:** Blah, blah, blah, don't own anything, you know the drill

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**CHAPTER 2**

While doing her rounds the next morning, Ann felt how her poor feet were still resentful because of the way she'd treated them the night before. They hurt even in the comfortable sneakers she was wearing. She checked on all her patients and asked the nurses to prepare the woman she had to operate on that very morning.

She sat in the break room and went over the procedure again, she liked being through and even though she had performed it before, she wanted to be meticulous. She took a cup and filled it with coffee, her third one that morning. It was a consequence of not sleeping enough because of stupid parties and even stupider billionaires.

Susie entered the room the way she always did, like a hurricane, and sat in front of her with a giant smile on her face. Her white collar was decorated with a tiny stuffed bear brooch, she worked in pediatrics.

"Good morning!" she almost yelled with that perky tone Ann hated that she used in the mornings. She just couldn't understand how anyone could be that happy that early. She answered with a grunt. "How was last night, stranger?" Susie ignored her bad mood just like she used to.

"It was long, boring and tedious" answered Ann, drinking a sip of her coffee "not to mention a tremendous and incredible waste of time"

Susie raised her right eyebrow like she did when she was suspicious "Oh really?" she asked curiously "Because I was told that you were out and about with the incredibly hot Bruce Wayne, _alone_" she concluded, stressing that last word.

"What…?" she mumbled "Who told you that?" asked Ann outraged.

Her friend looked at the door, specifically at Jack White who was just entering the room. "He did" said Susie, pointing her finger at him.

Ann turned around and looked at her boss, irritated "Gossip much?"

Jack raised his hands "Don't look at me, it wasn't me who was holding hands with our greatest benefactor" he said before getting a cup of coffee for himself.

"What? I wasn't holding hands with anyone!" Ann protested.

"Really?" answered Jack, cunning "You should know that Wayne has called personally to say he'd like to set a reunion to discuss further collaborations with our investigation department, and he specifically mentioned your name. What does that tell you?" he said, speaking like an infuriating matchmaker.

"Uuuuuh!" Susie was thoroughly amused "What'd you do to him?"

"Nothing!" Ann blurted out "I didn't do anything to him! You two are terrible gossips!"

"It doesn't sound like nothing to me! He _specifically_ mentioned your name" mocked Susie and started singing under Jack White's amused gaze "Ann and Bruce, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s…"

Ann stood up "You know what? I'm going with my patients, they're way nicer than you guys are" she had to raise her voice because Susie was still singing at the top of her lungs while Jack laughed helplessly. She pointed at both of them with her finger "You're mean, you know that?" but she still got nothing "Hell is filled with people like you" and she left closing the door behind her.

"Is she really mad?" asked Jack, slightly worried.

"Of course not!" answered Susie, unconcerned "Mah, she'll get over it. Now, tell me more"

* * *

The feeling of doing a good job, of saving someone's life, of washing her hands after a successful procedure, was incomparable. She congratulated her team and after a really long day, she changed her clothes and said goodbye to some of her colleagues, including the chief of surgery who was still laughing.

She approached the parking lot so she could reach her bike. Many doctors from the hospital mocked that habit, but the truth was Ann enjoyed her journeys through Gotham much more if she was riding her bike. Not to talk about how she missed all the traffic jams on rush hours.

She greeted her neighbors on her way home. When she arrived, she locked her bike and climbed the steps to her apartment, her sanctuary, her little shelter in the madness that the city was.

She had nothing planned for the rest of the day, so she made herself a cup of cocoa and snuggled on her couch, covering herself with a thin blanket while she watched the news. Apparently there had been more Batman sightings during the past night. He had stopped a robbery on gunpoint just 6 blocks away from the hospital. People called him a murderer and the police was still behind him. Something just didn't feel right.

The telephone started to ring. She stretched her arm in order to get it without having to get up of the couch. She checked the number to see who dared disrupt her rest and saw it was Susie, probably to mess with her a little more.

"Are you calling to be a cruel and ruthless friend again?" said Ann when she answered.

"Cruel and ruthless? What do you mean! I'm adorable!" Susie answered "Most of the time…"

"Define 'most of the time'" joked Ann.

"Anyway…" Susie cut off, exasperated "the girls and I were thinking about going out tonight to the Trivium, you in?"

"Suze, I'm tired!" she protested, disinclined to leave her comfy couch to get dressed again.

"Come on, don't be a prude Ann, how old are you? Sixty?" replied her friend, sounding more and more like her mother. "And you don't even have to work tomorrow; you must do something with your life".

"With my…" she started to say "Wait, how do you know I don't have to work tomorrow?"

"I checked the shift calendar, obviously" Susie answered, with that tone she used to refer to obvious things that weren't open for discussion.

"You would make an excellent stalker, I must say" mocked Ann, knowing it was the only thing she could do.

"Seriously, you should come, we'll have some drinks, talk about stupid stuff and have a great time, what do you say?" Susie kept talking, ignoring her friend's last remark.

"I'm on my pyjamas…" was Ann's last attempt.

"Do I have to go take them off?" answered her friend "or maybe you'd rather Bruce Wayne took them off..."

Ann raised her eyebrow "Really? This again?"

"Of course I'd rather he took them off too" said Susie ignoring her "he's such a handsome and powerful man after all, who wouldn't prefer it!"

"Susie, you're getting married in four months!" answered her, laughing. Her friend had gotten engaged not very long ago.

"So what! Do you think just because I've settled for one breakfast for the rest of my life I can't appreciate good bacon?" Susie said "And what great bacon, great smile, and that ass…"

"Alright!" yelled Ann trying to shut her friend up. "If you stop talking about Bruce Wayne I'll go get dressed and have a drink with you guys, okay?"

Susie took a pause and Ann just knew she was smiling cockily "That's my girl. My place, 10 o'clock. Don't be late" and she hung up as if she was afraid she'd back out.

Ann rolled her eyes and left the phone on the small table she had next to her couch. Couch she'd have to give up to be picked on by her friends. After a lazy growl, she stood up and walked to her room to see what she could wear for the evening. If she didn't look acceptable for Susie she'd grab her by the hair and drag her back to her closet until they found something she liked.

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Ann had to admit it had been worth it. She had spent the first few minutes outside her apartment missing her pyjamas and slippers. But as soon as the four friends got together and started conversing, her doubts and laziness were a thing of the past.

They'd been hanging out on a bar near Susie's place, but the girls were in the mood of something more spirited so they ended up in one of Gotham's hot places, the Trivium which was, of course, bursting with people. They'd been able to make it in because one of her friends, Pam, was kind of going out with the security guard's roommate, who had pitied them and let them get inside.

Now the four of them were seated in high chairs around a small table, talking loudly because of the high volume of the music.

"How's the new position, Ann?" asked Jenn, a marketing consultant in a very important enterprise of the city and her friend since they were fifteen and went to High School together.

"It's good! Can't complain for now, everybody's really nice and they're helping me a lot" Ann answered, taking a sip of her Cosmopolitan.

"Boy, are they helping her! Some people more than others" said Susie, sticking her elbow in her ribs and winking her eye at her. She was insufferable when she drank, even just a little bit.

Ann, knowing what her friend was referring to, decided to act fast to avoid an even bigger catastrophe than the one Jack White had caused when he told Susie about her little non-rendezvous with a certain billionaire. "How about the wedding, Suze? How are the preparations" she asked, changing subjects, knowing that would have Susie entertained for at least a while.

"Oh, yes!" cried Pam out "When do we get to pick up your wedding dress?" Pam was specialized in botanic and was currently struggling to get her doctorate in a city where most people didn't give a damn about renewable energy or preserving the environment. But she just wouldn't lose her passion, which was one of the qualities Ann most admired about her.

"I'm hoping to schedule the final fitting by next month, we'll also have to pick my bridesmaid's dresses!" answered Susie, already a little tipsy and hugging Pam and Jenn, almost making their heads bang together "I still can't believe I'm getting married!"

The girls all laughed and hugged Susie back "This deserves another round" said Pam, walking towards the bar "and this time, it's on me" she winked at them. The rest of them cheered at the girl's offering, but deep down they knew it was about flirting with the cute bartender.

Pam asked for their drinks and came back to the table with them. For a few minutes they kept trying to converse until a waiter came to where they were sitting with a bottle of champagne and four glasses. The champagne looked really expensive, even though Ann didn't know anything about alcohol brands. The girls all looked at Pam, astonished.

"This is not what I ordered, I assure you" she said, talking to both her friends and the waiter, who only responded with a smile.

"With the compliments of the gentleman up there" he informed them, pointing to a balcony from the VIP zone before leaving.

Inevitably, the four of them turned around to check who it was. Ann's eyes clashed with Bruce Wayne's before she could do anything about it. He was undoubtedly staring at her with that stupid smile of his she hated so much.

"Who is that? Isn't it Bruce Wayne?" she heard Susie, who ran to stand right next to her.

"Oh, damn it…" she mumbled, knowing what Susie was going to put her through.

Ann couldn't help but bite her lip when she saw the billionaire raise his glass and lower his head, greeting them. Her friends instantly surrounded her to bombard her with a thousand questions to which she didn't have an answer. A part of her felt flattered, no other man had ever done that for her or her friends. But another part opposed to the idea of a womanizer trying to fetch his next prey.

Susie was over the moon, it seemed like she would get a heart attack any second now, moving and speaking so fast. She told her friends what Jack had already told her, word by word, and then everything fell into Ann's hands, who was still freaking out by what just happened.

When she looked back behind her, Bruce Wayne was no longer there. She, on the other hand, would have to deal with her crazy friends thanks to him. It was going to be a really long night.

* * *

Commissioner Gordon awaited the arrival of Batman. He hated this kind of clandestine encounters but it was the only way to deal with him while he was still considered a murderer and an enemy to Gotham.

As it always happened, he wasn't aware of his presence until he spoke, startling him a little bit.

"You wanted to see me" Batman muttered.

"Yes" he answered trying to catch his own breath. "There's been some unusual activity in the Narrows, something is up" he informed. It was only his instinct, but he had been working in the force for enough time to know something just wasn't right.

"Unusual?"

"Suspicious people at strange hours, with even more suspicious packages. Apparently all of them close to a casino, the Iceberg Lounge" he continued explaining.

"Drugs? Money laundering?"

"We don't know yet, there's no official investigation, I have a few men on it but they haven't been able to get anything. Whoever's behind this knows how to erase his own tracks and eliminate every evidence" Gordon admitted, knowing that he had nothing to start with.

"I'm on it"

"Thank you. Be careful though, I have a feeling there's a new man in town" the commissioner said. Turning around for just a second to realize Batman wasn't even there anymore. "Damn it, I hate it when he does that".

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I'd love nothing more than hearing your thoughts on this one!


	3. Chapter 3

This week I've been wowed by the response from you guys, thanks for your reviews, follows and favourites from the last chapter. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Still looking for a **beta**, if anyone's interested, and still being sorry for any grammar mistakes you might find, feel free to message me if you find any that I haven't been able to catch ;)

_:: REVISED :: 07.03.15_

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**Disclaimer:** Still nothing.

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**CHAPTER 3**

Ann had never taken pleasure in other people's misery; she barely had time to brush her teeth after every meal, let alone for resentment. But that particular day she was willing to make an exception, her friends had spent the whole night drinking and asking inappropriate questions about those five minutes she'd spent alone with Bruce Wayne, greatly magnified by her friend Susie who, by the way, wasn't even there when it happened. The constant questions made her feel uneasy and she was unable to sleep for long.

So she had decided to get up from her bed and spend her morning cooking little muffins using her mother's recipe. Then she took them to her three friends at 10 in the morning. She'd found Jenn splendid, ready for work, but knowing her as she did, she noticed how she wore a little extra makeup under her eyes. Pam on the other hand was terribly hungover, so after mumbling something about making her get up at such an ungodly hour, she took the muffins, hugged her and slammed the door in her face.

Susie would have to be special. She had decided to be especially mean to her and knowing that Adam, her fiancé, left for work early in the morning, she dragged her out of bed and into the kitchen. It was a sight worth seeing, her beautiful and always perfect friend, with messy hair, on her pyjamas and groaning like an ogre while Ann made her anti-hungover potion on a blender that made the most infernal noise in the world.

After torturing her for a little while longer and receiving some serious death threats, she picked up her stuff and went back home. Her friends were usually no such meddlers, maybe Susie was the worst of them, but she seemed a little obsessed with her not 'ending up an old maid'. Ann thought that since Susie had her love life resolved, she had the compulsive necessity to resolve hers, since Pam didn't want anything to do with serious relationships and Jenn had been dating David for almost a year. She adored Susie and they had been through a lot of things, but sometimes she felt the urge to throttle her.

There were some days, just like that one, when she didn't know what to do with her free time. Especially when she had so many stupid things she couldn't get out of her head. Bruce Wayne had bothered her more than she'd let show. It wasn't that she didn't like the attention; it's just that she was having difficulties understanding the sudden 'interest'. In her opinion, there were two options, the first one being that he was just looking for someone to fool around with, a relationship with another dumb girlfriend that would only last for two weeks, like the ones that appeared in the tabloids. She wasn't interested in that option at all and was the one she was more inclined to believe.

The other option was the he really was interested in her because he actually found her interesting. But she just couldn't believe it. She wasn't like Pam, confident and fearless, not to mention a beautiful redhead with never ending legs that had all men drooling for her.

She decided it was not worth thinking about, since she'd probably never see him again, so she made a light lunch and took her bike in order to go to her father's house and spend some quality time with him. The poor man spent way too much time on his own since her mother died five years ago so Ann tried to spend as much time as she could with him on her free days.

A pang of sadness hit her when she thought about her mother, her smile and her hugs. She always had an answer, a piece of advice or a look that calmed her, no matter what. She missed that feeling so bad.

She shook her head as if trying to dismiss those thoughts and, without delay, got ready to leave.

* * *

"You look tired." said Dorothy, one of her favorite nurses. She'd liked her ever since she began the surgical program and Dorothy had immediately taken her under her wing. She was definitely her hospital mom.

"You would be too if your father had made you play cards until dawn." she exaggerated, while pulling her hair in a messy bun. The truth was she hadn't arrived to her place until 1am, and her father had made her call a cab. Riding her bike at night wasn't safe in Gotham.

"Don't tell me… Gin?"

"No, this time it was Bridge." She answered. "What do we have this morning?"

"Not a lot, Mister Adler's bypass is scheduled for tomorrow, Miss Davies is already being prepped for surgery and we've postponed Emily Reynold's transplant because her fever went up again." explained Dorothy while walking with the young surgeon during her rounds that morning.

"Alright." said Ann, suddenly startled by her beeper. She took it out of her pocket and saw that Susie had sent her a 911, she was needed ASAP on the second floor. "Something's up, explain Mister Adler's wife the procedure and I'll come back up as soon as I can."

Dorothy nodded and she ran to the nearest elevator to reach the second floor where Susie would be waiting for her. When she finally arrived, instead of tending to a crashing patient, she found her just leaning against a counter, patiently waiting for her.

She approached her friend with a surprised expression on her face. "What's the emergency?" she asked.

In that moment, the door to one of the meeting rooms of the second floor opened and she saw a lot of people leaving the room, Jack White, a bunch of hospital executives and… Bruce Wayne in the flesh. Her eyes opened wide when she looked at Susie with crazy rage.

Her friend just smiled. She obviously regretted nothing. Jack had figured the whole thing by looking at her and she saw him repress laughter, he did wink his eye at her though.

"Doctor Samuels! Ann, right?" asked Bruce Wayne, who seemed to be on cloud nine.

Ann laughed nervously, still unable to believe Susie's carefully planned scheme. "Mister Wayne! What a coincidence." She said, looking resentfully at Susie.

Susie, nonchalant, kept looking at them with the same smile on her face. She **really** was on cloud nine.

"I was actually hoping to run into you." He said with a smirk.

"Really?" Asked Susie, finally entering the conversation and earning a new look full of hate from Ann.

Bruce, without losing his smile, kept talking. "I think we started off on the wrong foot, I wanted to ask you if you'd like to have dinner with me tomorrow night."

Now it was Susie's time to open her eyes, she opened them so wide Ann thought they'd pop out of her, her smile also widened, angering Ann even more.

"Well, I… Well. I-I have to work late tomorrow and…" said Ann, trying to excuse herself (and lying).

"No, no, no, no. You are mistaken sweetie." interrupted Susie, like she was talking to a two year old. "I just checked tomorrow's shifts and you're working mornings this week. Isn't it wonderful?" she explained, as if it was the most fascinating piece of news in the whole wide world.

Ann was about to explode and Bruce seemed incredibly amused with was he was witnessing.

"But I…" mumbled Ann, finding herself on a dead end.

"When and where?" asked Susie, shamelessly ignoring her.

"Well." Bruce cleared his throat, still smiling. "I'll make reservations at the Four Seasons at eight; I can pick her up by seven thirty, if it's alright with you." He said staring at Susie, fully aware that she was the one getting him the date.

"She lives on Princeton Street 12, second floor." Recited Susie "She'll be ready by seven thirty."

"I'm sure of it." Bruce laughed, enjoying himself immensely. "I'll see you then."

Susie smirked. "She can't wait." Ann nodded awkwardly, knowing she didn't have a choice.

"Alright then, goodbye Ann." Said Bruce with a half-smile. "Nice stranger…" he said looking at Susie. And after saying goodbye, he walked towards the elevator.

Once inside, he greeted them with his hand. The girls responded to the gesture, Susie way more enthusiastically, while the doors were closing. When they did, Ann looked at her friend with murderous rage and started walking towards her.

Susie, seeing what was about to befall on her, started running the other way through the hospital corridors. Ann knew chasing her would get her nothing, so she just looked at her trip over a tray with surgical tools.

"You better run!" screamed Ann, before sighing exasperatedly. The date was on; she'd better come to terms with it.

* * *

Ann Samuels was buying clothes for a date. A date with Bruce Wayne. It was real, and it was that very night. She still couldn't believe she'd let Susie trick her into going last-minute shopping. She thought that was over after turning 25, but according to Susie, what she'd picked out to wear that night just didn't work. Apparently it wasn't 'badoom' enough. She didn't even want to ask what the hell that meant. She'd gotten inevitably dragged into one of the 'it' shops from Downtown Gotham, where Susie was piling dresses for her to try on.

"I'm not wearing that." She protested against the last dress her friend had suggested.

"Annie, you're not seeing the bigger picture here."

"You can see my bellybutton in this dress!" Ann answered, about to have a panic attack.

"It's called fashion." Said Susie like it was the most obvious fact of the world. "It's alright, you try these on and then we can look for more."

Ann looked at her arms filled with dresses. "More?" she asked, horrified. But Susie was already walking.

In the fittings rooms they found a petite girl, with a wide fake smile. She saw all the clothes they were carrying. "There are only allowed six pieces of clothing per fitting room."

But Susie looked at the poor girl like she could kill her. She crossed her arms and started tapping the floor with her foot.

"Uhm…" mumbled the girl. "Well, go ahead."

"Thank you!" said Susie, with her perky tone, while pushing Ann inside.

The fitting rooms were ridiculously small, settled in two rows separated by a small corridor, in which a bench for the companions could be found. All of the cabins had their curtains closed, indicating that they were all being used. However, that had never stopped Susie before; she stood right in front of one of the doors.

"Suze, I think…"

But she was already opening the curtain. As Ann had imagined, it wasn't empty. A woman screamed, alerting all presents, but leaving Susie completely unaffected.

"What are you doing!?" yelled the woman, absolutely justified. "This is so disrespectful! For the love of God! What do you think…?"

"Blah, blah, blah. Sorry, okay? Really, some people just can't handle anything." Susie looked at Ann, exasperated. "Besides, those pants don't even look good on you."

"They're mine!" the woman answered.

"Well! All the more reason, there are some really cute ones right outside, they'll cover those chicken legs you have real nicely."

Ann had mixed feelings. She had the inexplicable urge to laugh, but at the same time she felt so embarrassed. She looked at Susie, who was just out of control.

"Come on!" Susie urged. The woman looked terrified and quickly gathered all of her stuff and left the cubicle in a hurry.

Susie put her hands on her hips looking tremendously satisfied.

Ann stared at her wide eyed. "Did you know you're a psychopath?"

"Why? I even got you a fitting room, you should be thanking me!"

She didn't answer that and went inside of the little cabin without saying a word. She took the first dress. It was ridiculous, pink with a turtleneck, an open back and full of sparkling things. She wasn't going to even try it on. She took the second one. It was red, sleeveless and way too tight. She wasn't going to try it on either.

That was the moment Susie chose to open the curtain. "How's it going?"

Ann covered herself; she was only in her underwear. "What are you doing?" she protested.

"You haven't tried anything on yet?" asked Susie, outraged. "Boy, are you slow!"

"I just got in! You shooed out that poor woman only two seconds ago! Are you going to do the same with me?"

"Don't be silly." Susie got inside the small cubicle. "Take this, look." And she took a blue dress from the pile of clothes Ann had left in a small stool.

Ann looked at the dress. It was simple, a little below the knee and with thin straps; it was tight but not too tight. It was very simple but elegant. She let out a small whimper of satisfaction that seemed to please Susie.

"Come on, try it on." And she practically put it on her head.

"Can you please leave? I barely fit in here myself, let alone us both." Ann protested.

Susie looked at her pretending to be offended while she left the fitting room. "You are such a prude."

"A prude!" said Ann from inside. "Why do you keep torturing me? I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for you!"

"Torture? Excuse me for getting you a date with a handsome and rich man!"

"I didn't want you to get me any date, I've told you a thousand times I didn't feel like dating yet."

Susie snorted "You've been single for months, it's about time you start feeling like it."

"Even if it's with a playboy like Bruce Wayne?"

"He won't be a playboy for the rest of his life, Annie, and that's where you come in."

"You've watched way too many romantic comedies, Suze." Ann opened the curtain to show Susie the dress. "What do you think?"

Susie stared at her with pride and satisfaction. "You look beautiful." She twirled around her friend checking how every inch of the dress fit her body. "He's going to fall on his own butt when he sees you. What do you think?"

"You have good taste… for clothes." Answered Ann, laughing. "We'll see about your taste for men."

Susie raised her eyebrow. "Do you have anything against Adam?"

"I'm not talking about him." Ann was trying to stretch a little bit the hem of the dress hoping to somehow extend it; she wasn't used to wearing something so short.

Her friend slapped her hand to make her stop. "Sweetie, he's hot and he looks clean and fun, what do you have to lose? You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but if you go with an open mind you may even, I don't know… Have fun!" she said melodramatically.

Ann rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"If you end up marrying him I want some Manolo Blahnik's like Carrie Bradshaw's." Susie insisted, after apparently finishing her analysis of the dress.

"Get married!" Ann laughed. "I'll tell you what; if I marry Bruce Wayne I'll buy you ten pairs."

"I'll hold you to that promise." Replied her friend, very seriously. "And now let's find you some shoes." And she left quick as lightning.

Ann, who had thought her torture was over, sighed with resignation. "Crap." And she went back to the fitting room to take off the dress.

* * *

**A/N:** I'll be anxiously waiting for your reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, I'm opening up my very own studio and it's taking a lot of my time, here's a extra juicy and long chapter just for you!

I just want to thank again everybody who favorited and followed this story, it means the world to me. I'd just like to ask you guys for some criticism, good or bad, via a review. You may know how much work writing a story is, but then having to translate it it's a lot of work, reviews fuel my will and my creativity so you know what to do ;)

Also, I haven't even had time to check for any errors or typos (I'm so tired and I need my sleep...), so bear with me until I find a kind beta reader who feels sorry for me...

This chapter was written with _Thinking Out Loud_ by _Ed Sheeran_ on the background for the most part, and the one before this was inspired by _Ghost_ by _Ella Henderson_.

_:: REVISED :: 07.03.15_

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything you may recognize.

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**CHAPTER 4**

To say Ann was nervous was an understatement when talking about her state of mind fifteen minutes before her date. It was ridiculous, why was she so nervous? It wasn't even a real date, she wasn't interested. Well, maybe just a little bit. She could still remember how gorgeous he looked when he left the hospital conference room, with that suit that suggested an athletic and muscled body…

Well that wasn't helping her relax at all. Susie and Pam had left a half hour ago. They'd been in charge of making sure she was ready in time (and that she didn't run away), and Pam had also done her make-up because apparently they both considered she was hopeless in that regard. Which wasn't even true, for the last few months she'd found way more appealing sleeping five more minutes than putting stuff on her face. Anyway, she looked at herself in the mirror and she saw herself like she hadn't for months, like when things were good with Jeremy. She liked what she saw.

Susie had given her all kinds of advice but she couldn't remember a single one when her buzzer rung. She looked at her watch; it was exactly seven-thirty. He was just on time.

She approached the intercom and pressed the button.

"Who is it?" she asked, knowing perfectly well who it was.

"It's Bruce… Although I'm not sure if I'm allowed to speak directly to you yet." She heard from the street. That stupid comment made her smile and she hated it, she hated it when Susie was right.

"I'll be right down." She took her bag and a pashmina since it wasn't so cold yet, and went down the stairs.

She could hear the noise of those stupid heels against the stairs. Each click was a reminder of her inner fight, whether to let herself go and enjoy the night or trying to behave like an icicle. The truth was her heart skipped a beat for each step she took and she couldn't figure out why.

When she opened the door she found a smiling and nonchalant Bruce Wayne resting against a beautiful black car that was probably worth more than her entire apartment, but he was alone. She had been expecting him to bring a limousine or a chauffeur to impress her, but she was pleasantly surprised that it was way more intimate.

"You came!" he said with a smile. "I wasn't really sure you would."

She laughed. "I'm a woman of my word."

They both looked at each other while she went down the last steps to the street. Bruce was breathtaking; he was wearing a suit but no tie, and his blue blazer matched his white shirt perfectly. Ann had to admit he looked really handsome.

"You look beautiful." He said with that voice that made her shiver.

She tried to look calm. "Thank you." She whispered. She couldn't remember being so tense, not even on her very first date during her high school years.

"Shall we?" he asked gallantly, opening the door of the car for her.

She nodded and sat on the car, which seemed as luxurious as the exterior. She had no idea about car brands, but she was sure that one was very expensive.

Bruce opened the door and sat next to her, on the wheel. He started the car looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"You're very quiet. Is something wrong?" asked Bruce as he started driving towards the restaurant.

"No." She answered, trying to find the words. "It's just that I was expecting a bit more of paraphernalia, you know, a driver a limo…"

He smiled. "You don't seem like the kind of woman to be impressed by paraphernalia."

"I'm not." She was feeling more comfortable by the minute.

"Then it's a good start, don't you think?"

Ann looked through the glass in front of her with a little smile on her face. "I guess so." She could feel Bruce's gaze, but instead of returning it, she closed her eyes and sighed. The night would go on one way or another and she decided resisting it was stupid, so she'd try to enjoy and make the best of the evening.

The rest of the route to the restaurant was made in a comfortable silence, during which they both started to accustom to each other's company. In fifteen minutes they arrived at the restaurant, a maître showed them to their table, in a very cozy private booth.

"Did you know this place?" asked Bruce.

"I've been here before, but never to this part." She confessed, admiring the booth. It was small but very classy.

The waiter moved Ann's chair to help her sit and afterwards they faced each other. They kept staring, Ann smiled nervously but Bruce seemed calm and in his element.

A waiter broke the magic spell when he took their orders, but they were left alone soon after.

"I know I said it before, but you look amazing." He said, even sounding sincere.

"Susie picked practically everything." answered Ann, still a bit nervous.

"Susie is your friend from yesterday? I should send her flowers or something now that I think about it."

Ann laughed quietly but she didn't know what else to say. Her reservations were still there in spite of her best intentions; they were something she just couldn't dismiss so easily.

The waiters served dinner diligently. Ann thought it was delicious; it had been a long time since she'd tasted something so good at a restaurant. During dinner they both conversed, made jokes and laughed together. The girl had almost forgotten her doubts and was truly enjoying the evening.

He almost looked like a different man, nothing to do with the frivolous and carefree personality he showed on the media. Bruce even joked with the chef that had left the kitchen when they were served dessert to ask how they had liked their dinner. Ann couldn't help but wonder which Bruce Wayne was the real one, the kind and attentive man she had in front of her or the womanizing flirt from the first part of the night they had met.

She mentally kicked herself, she said she would try to enjoy his company and he seemed really nice. He hadn't taken any liberties, he hadn't offended her and his behavior hadn't been obscene, scandalous or ostentatious. In fact, the conversation had been pleasant, she had laughed and had fun. When she let herself go with the conversation, she stopped feeling nervous. She'd just heard some hilarious anecdotes about Bruce and a bunch of international executives who didn't speak English when the conversation turned to her again.

"Are you from Gotham?" he asked, taking a piece of his homemade cheesecake.

"Born and raised. My parents thought I'd leave when I finished college but it didn't feel right"

"Why not? I'm sure you had plenty of interesting opportunities."

"I had some options, but I wanted to do something good for the people of this town, I wanted to help make this city a better place." She laughed a little bit. "I'm sorry, I know it sounds terribly idealistic and stupid, but…"

"It's not stupid." He interrupted, without letting her say anything else and in a very serious tone. If only she knew who she was having dinner with. "I think it's worth admiring."

"I think you're the first person ever to tell me that." She laughed again, with a bigger smile this time. "After the hospital was destroyed… Well I must admit I was tempted to leave and never come back, but a part of me told me I had to stay and help rebuild that place and keep helping the good people of this town."

Bruce stared at her, she almost felt naked before his gaze. It showed intimacy and understanding. Even though she couldn't figure out why, it made her feel relaxed and sure of what she was saying.

"I generally don't make speeches like this, especially not on a first date." She laughed, trying to relax the atmosphere.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of" he smiled and briefly brushed her hand, sending a bolt of pure electricity to every pore of Ann's skin. Had he meant to do that? Or had it just been accidental?

"You don't know what you're saying, my father keeps telling me someday I'll end up in jail for now knowing when to shut up."

Bruce laughed. "He sounds like and interesting man."

"He is, although he just set up a little garden on his rooftop terrace and has become kind of a grouch."

He opened his eyes widely and laughed a bit more. "A garden? You have to tell me more."

"Oh yes, all of us told him it was crazy, but he insisted he had to do something with the seeds a friend of his had given him. There was just no getting it out of his head, so he now has a ridiculously small garden on his rooftop." She laughed. "In fact, he has a problem with a pigeon. Well, with a lot of them because they eat his seeds, but apparently there's something personal with a particular one. He's named it Nibbler and he spends his time trying to figure out a way to trap her, but he hasn't succeeded yet."

Bruce laughed like he hadn't in a long time while he imagined Ann's poor father with a helmet and hiding behind a wall trying to catch the pigeon with a bug net or something like that.

"I can't believe you."

"I assure you, it's true! He is now building a so called 'death trap', I just know it has a spring and some baseball bats, I didn't want to know more."

"I'm going to have to see that for myself." said Bruce, genuinely interested. Suddenly he stopped laughing and his face turned a bit serious but without abandoning that degree of slyness that had been there for the whole night. "There's dancing now in the restaurant… Would it be too much to ask you to dance with me?"

She bit her lip and decided to go with her gut. "I think I can handle that." She joked, getting up from her chair at the same time he did. "Although I'm not sure if I'll remember how to do it after all this time."

"I promise I won't tell anyone if you step on my feet." Bruce chuckled and put his hand on her hip, slowly swaying her to the outside of the booth, where the music was starting again.

Ann let herself be taken to another part of the restaurant, where a band was beginning to play a song. There were many couples already dancing in the floor when they approached it. The first chords of _Love Hurts_ by _Nazareth_ echoed through the walls while Bruce took her almost by the hand to the center of the dancefloor. The electricity she had felt before was growing by the second and she felt terribly close to Bruce, especially when he grabbed her hip with one of his hands, without letting go of her other one.

He pulled her towards him a little bit but not too much, just enough for their heads to stand practically next to each other while they moved with the rhythm of the music. Words weren't even necessary anymore. They both just let themselves be invaded by the special magic of the first dance, the first date, the first approach. Ann couldn't help but closing her eyes and got lost in the moment, in the emotions she felt and in her instincts, that told her to hold on to that. For some reason her initial wishes to flee were replaced with very different ones.

She could hear the powerful voice of the singer, who sung with a lot of emotion. She just knew it would be hard to forget that guitar chords, that voice and that moment. Her heart was beating fast and strong as she tried to catch her breath. Now that was unexpected. She could feel the heat from his hand, through the fabric of her dress in her hip. She could almost feel every breath, every movement. Each gesture and each smile.

Too soon for her liking, the song ended and a more upbeat one followed it. The couple separated almost automatically, they smiled and kept dancing for the rest of the night but it didn't even come close to the intimacy of that first dance. But she was fully aware that he was looking for those 'accidental' touches and she realized she was looking for them too. The little doses of adrenaline she felt every time he touched her were starting to become an addiction and she was enjoying it too much for her own liking. That's how the rest of the evening went, between laughter, dancing, complicity and accidental touching.

After enjoying the music and each other's company, Bruce offered to take Ann home if she wished to. Knowing that she had to work the next day, she accepted but felt strangely disappointed when they got on the car and he started driving towards her house. The way back was very different from the previous journey, they kept talking to each other until Bruce stopped his car in front of Ann's apartment and she got off the car followed by Bruce.

"Admit it, you had fun tonight." he said, now in front of her, on the foot of the stairs.

Ann faked a sigh, like admitting it was costing her a great deal. "Okay, I'll admit I had fun, but I will deny it even under torture."

He laughed and looked at her green eyes who were also smiling, as were her lips, full and red. They stood silently next to each other, not knowing what to say, but with smiles on their faces.

"I should go, I have to work tomorrow. And so do you." said Ann, breaking the silence.

"Yes, I have a lot of naps to take in tomorrow's meetings." He answered, making her laugh again. "Do you…? Do you think this date deserves a kiss? Because I do, but I don't know what you think." He joked.

Ann laughed even more, she got slowly closer to him and kissed his right cheek. "Good night, Bruce." And then she started going up the stairs and trying to find her keys in her purse to open the front door.

"Can I call you again?" he asked while she climbed the stairs.

"You can." She turned to look at him.

"And will you answer?" he asked again, without losing his smile.

"Maybe." She said, opening the door and waving goodbye to him. She climbed the rest of the stairs quickly and entered her apartment.

When she closed the door, she leaned on it and let out a big breath that seemed to have been waiting to be released since she'd left her home a few hours ago. She bit her lip and asked herself if she'd ever felt like that after a first date. She couldn't even remember feeling that way with Jeremy, but maybe the bad memories had clouded the good ones. She couldn't tell anymore.

She just knew she was amazingly close to letting herself go with her emotions. But the truth was she'd liked that night, and she liked Bruce Wayne. A lot. And maybe that was what scared her the most.

* * *

When she arrived at the hospital the next day, Susie was waiting for her in the locker room and opened her eyes wide when she saw her appear.

"You didn't call me!" she screamed.

Ann stared at her like she was crazy. "I didn't know I had to call you when I arrived home every night."

"Not EVERY night, but last night? Yeah!" Susie replied with the same demanding tone as before. "How'd it go?"

The two women began to walk towards Ann's small office, where Dorothy had probably left her the charts of the patient's she'd have to check on that day.

"It was good." She said, nonchalant, knowing that not knowing was killing Susie. She found it hard not to laugh at her frustrated expression.

"Oh come on! Why are you doing this? I'm a good person!"

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you." said Ann like she was doing her a huge favor. "He picked me up, we went to dinner, then danced a little and then he drove me home again."

"You went dancing?" asked Susie, very excited. "How romantic! And then what happened? Did you kiss? Because I don't think you're the kind to sleep with a guy on a first date… You're not that kind of girl, or are you? Huh?"

Ann laughed loudly, Susie looked like she was about to have a stroke. "Of course not, but it was good. I had a good time."

"That's good, having a good time is good, I like how good sounds." Said Susie like a maniac. "Are you seeing him again?"

"I don't know, he said he'd call me again so I guess I will." She answered, opening the door to her office.

When she did, she found an enormous bouquet of red roses on her table. Her heart stopped for a moment until she heard Susie shriek like a mad woman.

She god closer to take the small envelope she saw between the beautiful flowers. She opened it a found a little note: "Thursday at eight? —B". She couldn't help but feel like a teenager when she had her first crush. It was ridiculous but no other man had ever done such a thing for her.

Susie hugged her and snatched the note from her hands but she just couldn't stop smiling.

"A delivery guy brought them a while ago." said Dorothy leaning out of the office door after witnessing Susie's scandalous behavior.

Ann just got even closer to the flowers and stuck her nose between them, inhaling the amazing perfume.

"Who sent them?" asked the nurse influenced by Susie's enthusiasm. She was still jumping and shaking the card.

"Ann's new boyfriend!" Susie said, immersed in what seemed her particular nirvana. Dorothy, knowing she wouldn't get anything else out of her, smiled and left the office.

"He's not my boyfriend." Ann quickly said, unsuccessfully trying to get the card from Susie's hands.

"Who's not your boyfriend?" asked a new voice, adding to the commotion of the little office.

Ann suppressed a glance of disgust when she realized it was Jeremy, who had appeared there without an invitation.

"Definitely not you, asshole." Said Susie, with a big smile on her face.

Ann, surprised by her answer, looked at her and tried not to laugh.

Jeremy didn't respond to the pediatrician and just looked at his ex-girlfriend. "Are you dating someone? I'm so happy for you." Ann almost threw up because of the condescendence of that comment.

"Did you want something Jeremy?" she said sharply and ignoring what he had just said.

He cleared his throat, very aware of Susie's evil look. "I need a consultation, one of my patient has suffered two arrhythmias in the last 24 hours, I was wondering if you could take a look." He said, passing her a chart with the patient's medical history.

"I'll check on the patient today." She answered, opening the chart and taking a look.

"Thank you." He said, making his way out. "Nice flowers…" He mentioned before he closed the door behind him.

"Asshole…" Susie said.

Ann smiled a little. "You have to stop treating him like that."

"Why? What did I do? He's an asshole, isn't he? I just stated a fact."

"Whatever." Ann said, sitting on her chair to read the medical record.

"Well, I'm off to my rounds, but tonight is a mandatory girls night to discuss last night's events."

Ann rolled her eyes. "Is it really necessary?"

"Yes! See you tonight! Love you!" and she left like she used to do: like a hurricane.

She snorted, knowing there was nothing she could do about it, so she looked at the papers in front of her: "Katherine Armstrong, 43 years old…"

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A/N: Please! Take a few seconds to leave a review, it means the world to me :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Hello everyone! First of all, sorry for the delay. I wanted to say A MILLION TIMES THANK YOU for the amazing response last chapter had. I couldn't have imagined it, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Special thanks also to** sithhannahace**, who has become my beta reader. From now on, these chapters will be revised and updated with all those little mistakes corrected.

There's also something else I'd like to say. I got a review with some criticism, which I always welcome. However, I consider this criticism a little unfair and, even though the reviewer insisted it was not a flame, I had no way to reply to it since it wasn't signed, so I have to answer here. First of all, I was told that Ann's age was not appropriate. Even though I thought I'd explained it (more or less) on the first chapter, when I wrote how she was a little young for the job because there had been a lack of personnel in the hospital after the explosion, I am no doctor and unfortunately have no American doctor friends to explain accurately how it works.

Second of all, Bruce's side of the story will come soon enough. The motives of his dating Ann will be explained as well, all in good time. I'm bulding their relationship from Ann's point of view but everything will be explained. The point that hurt me a little bit was that apparently my characters' behaviour was high-shool like, and they were bound to be more professional while working on a hospital. I mean, I'm sure no one would behave like that on a real hospital. However, I'm a writer and I like to add a little humor to my stories, it's part of my style. If you don't like it, I'm sorry.

And finally, about how Ann would not work on the ER or done colonoscopies... Sometimes surgeons get an ER shift, I happen to know people who have done it multiple times here in Spain, maybe in America is diffferent but I'm used to watching in on shows like Grey's Anatomy and I don't think they would do it if it wasn't usual... however, I know that tv shows are not always accurate so I can't be sure. And the colonoscopies... come on, that was a joke. I appreciate the spirit behind the review but not the forms.

Anyway, sorry for the big speech! I just don't like it when I get this kind of criticism and I'm not able to respond.

I'm not very sure about this chapter because I've been sick and my writing is not the best right now, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging any longer. Besides, it's extra long and special. Please, let me know if you like it, every time I read a new review, I feel the impulse to write more, so you know what to do if you want me to update faster!

* * *

**CHAPTER 5**

"Hello, Mrs. Armstrong? I'm doctor Ann Samuels. Your neurologist, Doctor Jenner, wanted me to check up on you regarding those arrhythmias you've been having." said Ann with a smile, entering her new patient's room.

She encountered a woman lying in her hospital bed, with a bandage over her head, she was alone and looking really, really tired. She should, Ann had just read she had been trying to overcome a very aggressive cancer in her brain. However, she saw how she made the effort to smile back at her and seem friendly.

"Thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to visit me." replied the patient, sitting up a little bit.

"You don't need to thank me, it's my job." Ann said with a smile. "Doctor Jenner tells me yesterday you had a couple of episodes."

"I felt dizzy and weak… Well, more than usual anyway."

"Have you ever had similar symptoms?"

"No, never."

"I'm going to auscultate you, okay?" Ann took the stethoscope from her neck and put in her ears, trying to listen to her heart and lungs for anything out of order. But she couldn't hear anything suspicious. Ann smiled again and looked at Katherine Armstrong. "Don't worry, I don't think it's anything too serious, when was your operation?"

"Three days ago."

"Okay, I'm going to run some tests and we'll see what we're dealing with, we'll start with an electrocardiogram and if it's not conclusive an ultrasound of your heart. If we find something out of the ordinary I'll speak with a cardio attending and they'll check on you personally." She explained, hoping it wouldn't come to that. The woman had been through enough already.

Mrs. Armstrong looked a little relieved. "Thank you, doctor. Would you mind explaining it to my son when he gets back from his classes? I'm sure I'd tell him everything backwards." asked the woman with a laugh.

"Of course, don't worry about it. Ask the nurses to page me when he comes back and I'll be happy to explain everything. I'll schedule your tests for tomorrow." Ann said, trying to calm Katherine Armstrong as much as she could.

"Thank you." Katherine nodded in appreciation.

"You're very welcome." Ann left the small hospital room and scheduled the tests like she had said she would. Then she went back to her office and saw that somebody had left the supply sheet on her table, right next to the beautiful flowers Bruce had sent her.

Her face smiled again without her consent. She couldn't help it. To take her mind off it, she took the sheet on her hand and started checking the supplies assigned for the surgical residents. Everything looked fine except for a couple of typos she found in some of the rows.

She leaned out of her door "Hey, Jamison!" she called for one of her colleagues. He approached her and she showed him the piece of paper. "Have you seen this? It says 200 chest tubes instead of 20. And it also says there were no morphine leftovers to be returned and I just saw a whole box in the back storehouse." She explained.

"I'll fix it right away." He said with a fake smile, taking the paper from her hands.

When she saw him turn the corner she sighed exasperated. It hadn't been the first time Jamison tried to sabotage her, he'd been sure he would be the one appointed as chief resident. Truth be told, he was a bit of an idiot and she'd never gotten along with him very well, he always had put on an air of superiority and when the people from the program begun to flee after the hospital was attacked, he had assumed he'd be the one to lead the residents. He had taken the news rather badly but he always showed Ann a fake kind face.

Ann just went with her priorities and hating him wasn't one of them, so she tried to prevent his dirty tricks and go on with her life, which was chaotic enough without him messing with it. For now, she had a girls' night to try to avoid and a great smile to try to forget. Which one of the two was the most unlikely, she didn't know.

* * *

Ann was at her father's house. She'd stopped by to see if he needed anything and she ended up staying for the whole afternoon and dinner as well. She loved coming back to her childhood home; she had so many great memories of that place. Spending time there with her father made the pain of her mother's loss lessen a little bit.

"Do you like the tomatoes, sweetie?" asked her father, who had just left the table to get some water.

"Sure!" she answered with her mouth full. "Where'd you get them?"

"I grew them in my garden! Isn't it amazing?" he proudly announced.

Ann instantly stopped chewing for a second and looked at her father. "Really?" she asked, unsure and looking for something weird on the taste of those tomatoes his father had served for dinner.

"Really." He sat in front of her. "They taste good, right? No preservatives or anything, a hundred percent natural!"

She swallowed her food and smiled at him, still a little scared. "I thought you hadn't been able to grow anything because of Nibbler and his friends." She was afraid he'd taken some sort of drastic measures in order to get rid of the pigeons of his flat roof.

"I know, but my friend Sam told me to spray the garden with spices, they don't like spices, did you know that?" he explained, and Ann shook her head no. "Well I made a cocktail of spices and watered the garden with it. They haven't touched any of the tomatoes, it's unbelievable."

"Spices?" asked Ann, puzzled. "What kind of spices?"

"Sam told me about a couple of them… But I went to the supermarket and couldn't find them, so I bought a whole bunch and mixed them all up."

Ann raised her eyebrow. "Define 'a whole bunch'."

"Oh, I don't know… fifteen?" her father said, like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

Her eyes opened wide at his father and she then looked at the tomatoes in her salad.

"Don't worry! I cleaned them up very well before serving them. Do you want cake for dessert?" he said casually and already leaving to open the refrigerator door.

Ann looked at her almost empty plate and thanked God that she'd already eaten most of the super spiced up tomatoes from her salad. When her father came back to the table, he put a plate with a slice of chocolate cake in front of her.

"Anyway, let's not talk about my vegetables anymore, how's work?" his father asked, changing the subject.

"It's good, stressful but I'm happy." She smiled, putting some cake in her mouth. It was delicious. She was suddenly startled by her phone ringing. "Just a sec." she excused herself, she didn't know the number and it could be important.

She walked into the living room and then answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"I was wondering if you'd given me your real number or not." she heard a voice say from the other side of the line.

She recognized Bruce's voice and smiled. "What kind of woman do you take me for?" she mocked.

"The kind that needs her friend to push her to go on a date with me." He answered, continuing the joke. "Did you get my flowers?"

"I did. They're beautiful, but you shouldn't have…"

"I know I shouldn't have, but I wanted to increase the probabilities of a second date." she could hear through his voice that he was smiling.

"They made quite the impression in the hospital, that's for sure." She laughed. "Thank you anyway."

"You're very welcome." He said on his charming tone. "So, about that second date…"

"That was smooth" Ann laughed.

"Wasn't it?" he laughed as well. "The other night you said you liked theater, right?"

"I do…"

"They're doing The Merchant of Venice in a little place I know, would you like to go?"

"I love The Merchant of Venice, it's one of my favorites." she confessed.

"Then we have a deal. The play starts at eight, how about I pick you up at six and have some drinks before?"

"Sounds like a plan." Ann said, agreeing to the second date she'd never expected to go to.

"Great. I'll see you then."

"See you." and she hung up.

Sometimes she felt stupid for going on with it, but her gut told her to do so, to spend more time with him, and she'd never gone against her instincts. She'd been told that she would make a great doctor because of them, they'd never failed her before and she had no reason to think they would now.

She went back to the table and sat on her chair to finish her desert.

"Was that a friend?" asked her father.

"Yeah." she answered, not wanting to delve further into the matter.

"A 'guy' friend?" it seemed like her father had no intention of dropping the subject.

She sighed, knowing there was no way out of it. "Yes, a 'guy' friend." she admitted.

"Oh! Well that's wonderful! Why haven't you told me about him?" his father said. "Who is he?"

Ann rolled her eyes, knowing there was no fooling Martin Samuels, so she explained everything to him. His father had been worried about his daughter's bad breakup and he was beyond happy that she was seeing someone new. She was positive she'd never hear the end of it.

* * *

"Have you done your hair already?" asked Pam through the phone.

"Pam, it's four, the date doesn't start for another two hours." Ann protested. "I'm just arriving home and I'll start getting ready."

"Okay. Do you need me to go and do your make-up?"

"There's no need, Pam, I'm telling you, I can do this." she insisted.

"Alright, alright" Pam backed off. "He's so dreamy…"

Ann laughed. "I know."

"And handsome."

"I know!"

"You better tell me everything when you're done."

Ann laughed again. "I will."

"When you talk to Susie tell her I pushed a lot harder, I promised I would be thorough."

"Will do."

"And for the love of God, kiss the guy; I'm sure it will be just as dreamy as he is."

"I'm hanging up now." and she did just that.

She thought she'd avoid the pep-talk because Susie was busy with work, but of course she had to ask Pam to do it for her. She was lucky because Pam was not as pushy as Susie, and she still appreciated that they worried about her, but she was already nervous and that wasn't going to help.

After picking a very casual outfit, black pants and a beautiful laced white shirt, she showered and straightened her hair, making a loose braid with it on one of the sides of her head. She didn't want to overdo it, she wanted to be herself. So she did a very light and natural make-up and before she knew it, Bruce Wayne was ringing at her bell for the second time. It still felt surreal.

She went down the stairs much calm than in their first date, but the feeling when he flashed her with his smile was still the same. Pure electricity and butterflies right in her stomach, it hit her like a punch. And she let herself go, just the way she had the time before.

"You are fairly punctual." she said walking down the last stairs. She saw that he'd brought the same car as before.

"It's one of my few virtues." he answered. "You look very nice."

"You don't look so bad yourself." In fact, he looked gorgeous; he was wearing jeans and a white shirt. He looked good enough to eat.

"Why thank you, Alfred will be pleased to hear that." He said, getting inside the car and starting it.

"Who's Alfred?" Ann asked, curious.

"He's my butler." He answered.

The girl looked at him and raised her right eyebrow. "You have a butler?" she asked with a smile.

"Too much paraphernalia for your liking?" he said smiling as well.

"No! No." she laughed. "Forget I said anything."

"I asked because if that's too much for you, you're in for a treat." He said mischievously.

Ann looked directly at him. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked with curiosity.

"You'll see."

"I'm intrigued. Where are we going?"

"That's part of the surprise."

"So I'm not allowed to ask?"

"You are, but I won't say anything."

She bit her lip. "Okay, but if you are trying to kill me, a lot of people know I was seeing you today."

"Duly noted."

And she shut up for a few seconds, unable to believe she was disappointed because he hadn't touched her yet. What was she thinking? She wasn't a hormonal teenager anymore.

"Are you seriously not telling me?" she asked, unable to contain herself.

"Don't worry, we're almost there." he answered, beginning to park his car. She looked out the window but she couldn't recognize the place. "Come on." And he went to open her door.

"Where are we? I don't see a theater here." She asked, confused. "Damn it, you're going to kill me, aren't you."

He just laughed and put his hand on her hip, sending that little spark that she'd been waiting since they had met that day. She looked around and found herself next to an esplanade with huge industrial units. There were also lots of planes and lights. Was it a private airport?

"Are we flying?" she asked, unable to believe it and nearing a little plane that apparently was their destination.

"I never said where the theater was, now did I?" he said with a smile.

She smiled as well, still astonished. "You're kidding!"

"I know you said you weren't into paraphernalia, but I just wanted to do some things my way for this, you can choose what we do next time."

They started to climb up the stairs to get into what looked like a private jet, with 'Wayne Industries' written all over it. "This is unbelievable!" she said, stopping in the middle.

He stopped as well and positioned himself one step below hers. "Is it too much?" The sound of the engines was staring to roar.

She smiled and gasped, feeling a little overwhelmed. "No." she said. They stared at each other's eyes and she could feel the magic in the moment.

However, it was interrupted by an usher who came out of the plane to welcome them. "Mister Wayne! It's nice to see you."

The two men talked while they walked inside of the jet. If she'd thought the car was luxurious, she didn't know how to describe the little plane she was standing in. It was amazing; she still couldn't believe it was happening.

They sat on the comfortable seats and the takeoff maneuver began.

"I still can't believe this." She said, with that stupid smile she just couldn't get off her face.

"Are you mad?" he asked.

"No! No, I'm not mad." She said. "It's kind of romantic." If he'd done it on their first date she probably would have thought he was just a show-off, but having met him before, she felt like there was a lot more than that, so she was ready to just be happy for whatever he had in store for the night. "But where are we going?"

"Flight 3094 about to take off for Boston." She heard the pilot say.

"Boston? We're going to the theater in Massachussets?" She said incredibly surprised.

"It was the best place I found where they were doing The Merchant of Venice." He explained, still smiling. "Are you happy?"

"I'm still in shock." she confessed. "I can't believe you did this."

"I know, it's going to be pretty hard to top, huh?" he joked, referring to her having to organize the next date.

"Is that a challenge?" she asked, entangled in his humor.

"Maybe." He said with a smirk.

* * *

The flight had been a short one, before she knew it they had landed on Boston and she still couldn't believe it was true. The ride to the theater was also short, but just as enjoyable as the flight, they spent it talking and enjoying each other's company. Her face was beginning to hurt from smiling so much.

Boston was an amazing city, the night lights created a very special atmosphere, definitely helping the romance. The theater was just as amazing. And the play was just brilliant. It was a very dear play for her, she'd mentioned it on their first date but she couldn't have foreseen he would do such a thing for her. No one had ever done such a thing for her.

The thing that surprised her the most was how comfortable she felt around him. She was enjoying herself more than she ever thought she could, and even during their trip back to Gotham, they kept talking and making each other laugh. It was definitely surprising but it seemed like Susie was right and he was a nice guy, which would mean she'd have to hear a never-ending trail of 'I told you so's for the rest of her life. However, she didn't care, she'd found herself looking for the occasional brushing of hands for the whole night. She was in real trouble.

When they got off the car, in front of her house, she was still over the moon.

"Did you have fun tonight?" he asked her.

"I did." She said, feeling relaxed and quite happy. "You know, when my mother died my father and I were really bummed at home, he saw the advertising for The Merchant of Venice in the newspaper and took me to see it. For a few hours we forgot about how miserable we were and laughed like crazy, so it's really special for me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"No, you don't have to be sorry." She cut him. "I really love it. And it was great seeing it again with you." Suddenly she felt a little nervous. The tension she'd accumulated for the whole night was about to make her explode. She'd never felt this way before, like she needed to be touched by him and if she didn't she'd have to murder someone.

"I'm glad then."

"Me too."

"And you'll have to top it next time."

"You seem confident there's going to be a next time." she said, joking. "And you'll see, my date will kick your date's…" but she just couldn't finish. Bruce's lips were suddenly against her own, interrupting her.

What she'd felt when their hands had touched was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. She closed her eyes and put her arms in his chest and shivered when she felt his hand move to her cheek, deepening the kiss as he did so. The butterflies were now flying all over her body when she felt his tongue delve into her mouth, making her moan in the process. She pressed herself against him involuntarily, her body was no longer her own, it had been possessed by an urge to get closer to him. His other hand went to her hip as if trying to fulfill her wishes. The kiss went on for a few more seconds, she enjoyed the feeling of being in his arms and the way he touched her, like she was the most precious thing in the world to him. Now that was a great first kiss.

When they broke it, she gasped for air and had to wait until her brain started working again.

"That was…" she mumbled.

"I was afraid you'd kiss me on the cheek again." He smirked. "I've wanted to do that all night."

She still didn't know what to say. She was still shaken up by the rush of emotions she'd just experienced.

"Does this mean there's going to be a next date?" he asked, still smirking.

"I think so, yes." she said still gasping for air a little bit.

"Good. It's on you."

"Sure." she wanted to kick herself for apparently only being able to say small words and uncomplicated sentences.

"I'll call you."

"Alright."

Bruce, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying her reaction. He approached her again and brushed his lips against hers for a brief moment, to say goodbye. She watched him get on the car and she opened the door to her apartment. What the hell had just happened? What was going on with her? It wasn't like her at all to act like that because of a boy, she never had, not even with her first boyfriend.

She touched her lips and smiled, reliving what she'd felt a few minutes ago. She got into her bed and lay awake staring at her ceiling. She'd thought she was in trouble before, now she knew for sure she was on an incredible ride and not sure that there was going back from it anymore.

* * *

**A/N: **Please, please, let me know if you liked it! See you soon! :D


	6. Chapter 6

OH MY GOD, I'm so sorry for taking so long, I'm trying to open the damn studio and work at the same time and it's been hell. SORRY!

Thank you again for so many reviews, favorites and follows, as I always say, they mean so much to me. Please, don't stop reviewing! I swear to you it helps me kick creativity, today I got a review that asked for the next chapter and it sent me to the computer to write ASAP, so you know, it works! It's not too long but it has to happen to get the story to where I want to.

I just wanted to explain something before the chapter, I talk about a certain condition and I know it firsthand because I suffer from it, it's a stupid thing that doesn't make my life harder but I just wanted you guys to know that I wrote about it knowing what I was saying :)

Here comes chapter 6, I hope you like it.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Still nothing... Damn it.

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

"Are you sure it's the right dress for me?" asked Pam for the fifth time, with her hands full of bags as they walked through the streets of Gotham.

"Pam, you look great in it, it is the right dress for you, don't you trust me?" said Ann, who had her own share of bags full of clothing. They had had quite a fruitful shopping session for Susie's upcoming bridal shower. It wasn't for another month or so, but the two friends didn't always have time to shop together, so they decided not to leave it for the last minute, like normally they ended up doing.

"Of course I trust you, but I'm just not sure of what Susie is expecting of us, 'casual-chic'? What the hell does that even mean?"

Ann laughed. "You know how she's always making up new words that have no real meaning, just forget about it. As long as you don't wear more cleavage than her, you'll be fine."

Her friend chuckled. "You're right. What is she going to wear anyway?"

"She wouldn't say." answered Ann. "She says it's going to be a surprise."

"Oh God, I just pictured her dressed like a banana and with those maracas."

"That would be a surprise for sure."

"Wouldn't it?" Pam sighed. "Can you believe our little Suze is getting married?"

"Not really, it seems like yesterday when we were just hanging out in my parents' basement, watching chick flicks and talking about boys." reminisced Ann, feeling a pang of nostalgia.

"Well it's not that different from what we do now, we just talk about boys in bars, drinking expensive cocktails."

"Much better!" said Ann sarcastically.

Pam laughed. "It's just… I can't help but feel a little out of place."

Ann, surprised by her friend's statement, looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you feel out of place?"

"Look at you guys, all with grownup jobs, Susie's getting married, Jenn's in a serious relationship and you…"

"…are not talking about that anymore, the other day's questioning was enough, don't you think?"

Pam sighed again. "You know what I mean. I'm still trying to get my freaking doctorate, working as a waitress to be able to pay my bills and no boyfriend on the horizon…"

"Okay, okay, okay." Ann interrupted her. "You're just about to become a doctor and working part time, you have no debt and you don't have a boyfriend because you don't want to, how many guys gave you their phone numbers the last time we went out?"

"I know, but I…" started Pam, but stopped talking as if she couldn't find the words.

"What?"

"I see Jenn with David, Susie with Adam… And I know you don't want to talk about him, but come on, the way your eyes sparkle whenever you talk about Bruce, I know there's something there and I just never felt it with anyone." Pam confessed while still walking towards her car to get back home.

Ann was shocked. She'd always thought Pam was a carefree and confident woman who wasn't in a serious relationship because she didn't want to. "I never knew you felt that way."

"Ugh, forget I said anything, I'm just having a crappy week at work and it's getting to me."

It was typical of Pam, she wasn't the kind of woman who liked talking about her feelings, and she knew better than to stick her nose further into what she'd just said, so Ann thought changing the subject would be for the best. They reached Pam's car that was parked on the street and put their bags in the trunk.

"So, do you think we should get new shoes for these dresses or what?"

She'd just finished saying that when the two friends heard a scream in the other side of the street. They both turned their heads and saw a gathering of people who looked agitated.

"She just screamed and fainted!" Ann heard someone say.

She then looked at Pam. "Let's go!"

"Okay." She mumbled, and started running towards the people.

When she arrived, she found a young woman lying on the ground, hissing in pain.

"I'm a doctor, did anyone see what happened?" She screamed, tying her hair in a messy bun and checking for her vitals.

"She looked like she needed some help, I asked her if she was alright and she just screamed and fell to the ground." Answered a man, she couldn't even see his face. The place was getting more a more crowded.

"Call 911!" Ann instructed. Her heartbeat was accelerated and so was her breathing. She kept groaning like she was in terrible pain and then she just started screaming again.

"It's getting… it's getting to me!" she yelled.

"What is it? What's getting to you? Can you hear me?" Ann tried to communicate with the young woman but she wasn't responsive. The she suddenly stopped yelling and moving. That was never a good sign.

Ann checked for her vitals again, and she wasn't surprised to see that she didn't have a heartbeat anymore.

"Damn it! Where's that ambulance?" she protested. She took off her jacket and positioned herself to the side of the woman to start CPR.

"It's coming; I can hear the siren already." Ann recognized Pam's voice.

The young doctor just prayed they would get there in time. She counted the compressions in her head and then blew some air into her lungs. "Come on, don't do this." She said while she went back to the compressions.

The ambulance arrived when she was doing her third cycle and the paramedics quickly surrounded her and took the woman inside. She shared the patient's status with them as fast as she could. Seconds were gold in those kinds of situations.

"I'm going with them, the clothes…" Ann explained to Pam while walking towards the ambulance.

"I'll take them to your house later, don't worry about it."

Ann nodded and got inside "You have a defibrillator here, don't you?" she asked, getting on the ambulance with them and resuming manual CPR.

"Yes ma'am." said one of the paramedics, already preparing it.

"Come on, come on." She mumbled while still counting in her head.

* * *

The ambulance drove to the nearest ER, the Gotham General. By the time they arrived to the hospital, she had managed to get a heartbeat but the patient was extremely unstable. The paramedics rushed the woman in the ER and she was asked what happened by one of the cardio attendings she knew so well.

She explained everything that she'd done and started helping them, trying to stabilize the young woman. It was no easy task, she started to fibrillate once more but they were able to bring her back. After more than an hour of checking on her constantly, they'd seem to reach their goal so they admitted her and started looking for someone to call. Unfortunately she had no ID so she'd have to stay on her own until she woke up. If she ever did.

Ann shook her head. She had to stay positive. She took a napkin and dried the thin layer of sweat on her forehead. Ann started walking towards her office to see if she'd gotten any results for her patients. She wasn't supposed to, but now that she was there it couldn't hurt.

"What are you doing back here?" Asked Susie, who ran into her by coincidence.

"I attended a woman while I was shopping with Pam, I came back here in the ambulance with the paramedics and stayed until she was stable." She explained.

"You're such a workaholic, even when you go out shopping these things happen to you." Susie joked. "I have to run, I have little humans to watch over, see you!"

Ann smiled and arrived to her office, where she found one of the interns that was arriving as well.

"Doctor Samuels! I didn't think I'd find you here." The intern said, Turner, she thought he was.

"I'm not supposed to be here, it was an emergency." She explained.

"I have the lab results for Katherine Armstrong, the woman with the arrhythmias. I was going to leave them on your desk." He said handing them over.

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome." He said, and then left to continue working.

She checked the results and smiled. She was right, nothing too serious. She took the white collar she had on her office and asked Jack for permission to deliver the news. When it was granted, she walked to Katherine Armstrong's room. After the hard time she had with that young woman, she couldn't wait to share the good news. Ann asked a nurse for an ultrasound machine so she could show the patient more clearly what her condition was.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Armstrong." She said.

"Doctor Samuels, it's good seeing you." The woman welcomed her, smiling. She then looked at her son who was sitting on a small couch. They looked excited. "You look happy; does that mean you have good news?"

"The best news." Ann said, sitting on the bed next to Katherine. "Can you open your gown please?" she asked.

Katherine did as she was asked, and Ann poured some of the gel on her chest. "Sorry if it's a little cold." She took the probe and neared it to where her heart was. She listened to Katherine's strong heartbeat through the ultrasound. "I saw this the other day but I wanted to confirm there was nothing more to it." She pointed to the screen. "Can you see this? It's one of your heart valves, the mitral."

"Uh-huh." Katherine nodded.

"And can you see this little spark? It's called a prolapse. The valve between your heart's left upper and lower chamber doesn't close properly and sometimes it leaks some blood backwards. That's what makes you feel dizzy." She explained. "It's probably been there your whole life but it just started causing trouble. It's easily operable and you will be good as new in no time."

She saw the expression on Katherine's face change. Her face lightened and then she looked at her son who was smiling like there was no tomorrow.

"So no complications from the cancer?" asked Katherine.

"Nope." Ann said with a huge smile on her face as well.

"Oh!" Katherine smiled, crying a little bit and hugging her son. "Thank you doctor Samuels."

"You don't have to thank me, I'll schedule your surgery and you'll be discharged as soon as Doctor Jamison allows." Katherine's son pulled her into an unexpected hug.

"So she's gonna be okay?" he asked, still hugging her. "Thank you, thank you!"

"You're more than welcome." She answered. "Alright, I have to get going because I'm not even supposed to be here, I'll see you both tomorrow."

And she left the two of them enjoy the good news. She felt pretty good too. Now it was time to start planning her date with Bruce. She knew just where to begin.

* * *

Ann was leaning against the railing of Yeaverly Park, looking at the mouth of the River Merchant. The soft wind was blowing in her face and she couldn't help but smile at it. The smell of the sea always brought her great memories, and this would be one of them.

"Alright, here's your extra spicy hot dog that a man took out of a cart." She turned around and watched Bruce approached her with a hot dog in each of his hands. "Are you sure this is sanitary?" he asked.

She laughed. "Come on, don't be such a nitpick." She took her hot dog and brought it close so she could smell it.

"What are you doing?" he said with a half-smile.

"Absorbing the smell of this exquisite delicacy." She explained and then laughed at his face. "You'll sing a different tune once you've tried it, trust me."

So far the date was going amazing. She'd asked Bruce to bring something more low-key in order to be more discreet and he'd showed up with a motorcycle at her doorstep. After closing her mouth from the shock (she never would have worn a dress if she'd known he'd bring his bike), she hopped on the bike and embraced him from behind. She didn't know if he'd done it because of that, but she was thankful all the same. She enjoyed the ride and being so close to him.

She had decided to spend the afternoon with him in the Yeaverly Park pier, they'd walked for almost two hours watching all the street performers and the little flee market where they had seen some very interesting antiques while enjoying each other's company. He had held her waist a couple of times, but she was frustrated because he still hadn't kissed her. And she was dying to kiss him. Why hadn't she done it already?

Now it was time for her favorite part of her evenings whenever she was there: the hot dogs from the street vendor. She'd never tasted anything so good coming out of a portable food booth.

She watched him reluctantly take a bite of his hot dog. She couldn't help but smile when he looked at her with a surprised expression on his face.

"Oh my God…" he said.

"I know, right?" she took a bite as well and she felt in heaven. She didn't mind if it would give her salmonella or anything. If she was to die after eating that hot dog, she'd die a happy woman.

"This is amazing." His words sounded even funnier with his mouth full.

"I told you!"

"Why haven't I tried this before?"

"Because you're a powerful billionaire who has yet to learn the best things in life." She joked.

"No kidding."

She took a couple more bites and looked at Bruce again, who was still in shock for this revelation.

"It's good huh?" She asked.

"Oh yeah."

She laughed again and finished her delicious hot dog. She leaned against the railing again, the sun was setting and the whole moment was filled with that magical orange light that made everything look like a dream.

"Admit it, this date kicks your date's ass." She said when she felt him embrace her from behind, locking his arms around her waist.

"I'll admit the hot dog topped it up a notch, but it's not kicking ass just yet." He murmured with that sexy voice of his that sent shivers all over her body. He slowly turned her around and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

She closed her eyes and sighed. Her heart was going to explode out of happiness. She put her arms around her neck and pulled him even closer to her, deepening the kiss as she did so. She felt one of his hands swaying to her cheek, making the kiss even more intimate.

He kissed her again, with the same passion and tenderness, and he gave her to small pecks before he spoke. "Now we're talking."

* * *

Thoughts? ;)


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone! Again, sorry for the long wait, trying to set up my own studio is taking more time than I had expected, we also had some harsh rain storms and long story short, stuff happened at my store and it's been CRAZY.

Anyway, thanks again for the many reviews and follows, It's so nice to know you guys haven't abandoned me. In reward for your patient wait, this chapter is extra long and extra juicy. The rating of this story is now **M**, which means SMUT. If someone is not comfortable with it, I've marked the exact piece you don't have to read :)

I hope you guys like it, I'll be anxiously waiting for your reviews!

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**Disclaimer:** I own nothing you may recognize.

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**CHAPTER 7**

"The operation went smoothly, don't you think?" asked the fellow cardio surgeon who had performed the surgery while Ann scrubbed in.

"I think so; let's hope for a quick recovery." She replied. They were leaving the operating room after the simple operation Ann had predicted. She was satisfied and a little tired.

"Nice catch Samuels, will you talk to the family?"

"Thank you doctor Jefferson, yes I will." She giggled. A little praise never hurt, right?

Doctor Jefferson left with a smile and she went to update Katherine's son, he hugged her and looked so relieved, better than she'd ever seen him. And she was hoping they could finally leave her mother's cancer behind once and for all. They were good people, and she loved helping out but especially when she was sure it was good people.

"Hey stranger." Susie welcomed her when she arrived to her office. Apparently she'd been waiting for her and she'd made herself comfortable, she was sitting in her comfy chair and was reading what seemed like one of those trashy magazines she loved so much. "How'd it go?"

"Good! The operation went great and I'm sure she'll be just fine." She explained.

Susie rolled her eyes. "I'm happy for your patient, but I meant your date with Bruce Wayne."

"I know." Ann smirked.

Her friend huffed. "You are so mean, you know that?"

"And you're a helpless gossip, but we love you anyway."

"Whatever, you're not going to tell me?"

"And a persistent one, too." She kept joking.

"Annie!" exclaimed Susie.

Ann laughed at her friend's frustration. "It was great; we went to Yeaverly Park, had some hot dogs and watched the street performers."

"How romantic…"

"It was."

"I kind of miss it, the thrill of the first few dates, you know what I mean?"

Ann sighed. "I know what you mean, but I'm still kind of waiting for the whole thing to blow up in my face."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because… After the mess with Jeremy I guess I'm predisposed to think the worst is going to happen sooner or later. And he seems like a great guy, he doesn't parade all his money, he's so nice, funny… But I have that stupid feeling that he's keeping something from me."

Susie tilted her head and stared at her friend. "Come on Ann, we all have things we keep from guys during the first few months, I'm sure it's nothing."

"You're probably right." Ann admitted. "By the way, what are you doing here? Just gossiping?"

"Duh, do you really have to ask?" Susie stated, getting up from her chair. "I'm going to check on my patients, call me later and we'll have some drinks with the girls, okay?"

"Okay." She agreed.

Ann watched her friend leave and laughed at the way she behaved with the people she encountered in the corridors, waving and talking to everybody.

She checked her watch and remembered she'd been wanting to check on the girl they'd brought the other day for the whole day. She still hadn't woken up and so far they'd been unable to identify her, but her blood labs had to be done already, so she walked down to take a look at them.

"I'm here for the results of a Jane Doe, patient ID 56974 please." She explained to the person behind the desk.

"Sure, just a second."

Ann nodded and turned around while she waited. She was hoping to see Bruce that night, he'd told her he would probably be busy but that he'd try to make some time to have dinner with her. Was she becoming some kind of clingy girl? She needed more and more time with him, it was like nothing was ever enough. She could barely keep her hands to herself, and she had a suspicion the same thing happened to him. She could feel the corners of her mouth rising for a smile when she was interrupted.

"I'm sorry Doctor Samuels but there are no labs for your patient."

She blinked twice, shocked. "What?"

"We can't find the results anywhere, and the tests don't appear on the system, I'm sorry, I don't know what could have happened."

"What do you mean they don't appear in the system? We ordered some blood work to know what had caused the reaction she had! Aren't there any samples left?" she grunted.

"I'm afraid not."

"But whatever was affecting her system won't even be in her blood anymore! How could this happen?" she ranted.

"I'm so sorry Doctor Samuels; I can assure you we'll investigate the situation thoroughly."

"Yes, I'm sure you will." She snapped, frustrated. She angrily walked towards Jack White's office, to inform him of what had happened. She ranted for some more time about chains of custody and how the hell they were going to find out what had happened to that poor girl now.

Jack listened to her complaints and empathized with her, but explained her that there was nothing more they could do except investigate and find out what exactly had happened and why the samples had been lost.

She was going to yell some more out of frustration when they were interrupted by one intern.

"Doctor Samuels! She's awake!" he belted.

"What? Who?" she responded.

"The Jane Doe! She's awake!"

Ann's eyes almost popped open and she looked at Jack one more time before running to the patient's room as fast as she could.

When she arrived she saw the blonde haired girl she'd found lying on the street, with her eyes barely open and looking like she was in pain.

"Miss? Can you hear me?" Ann inquired, nearing the bed.

The girl hummed something that sounded like an 'uh-huh'.

"Do you know your name?" Ann checked her pupils with the little flashlight, they were responsive.

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth James." She heard the patient mumble.

"Okay Elizabeth, do you know where you are? Do you know what happened to you?"

"I'm assuming this is a hospital. My head hurts…"

"You hit your head when you passed out, do you remember anything?" Ann sat on the bed and put one finger in front of Elizabeth's face. "Follow my finger with your eyes please."

"I remember I wasn't feeling well, I remember somebody trying to help me… Was that you?"

"Yes." Ann answered. "We run some tests on you but they were either negative or misplaced." She explained bitterly, still angry. "We are going to run them again, but if you took something it's possible that it will no longer show up in the tests, so I need you to be honest with me, do you remember taking anything?"

"Uhm…" Elizabeth rubbed her eyes, clearly still a little out. "I… I can't remember. I'm sorry."

Ann closed her eyes and nodded "That's okay, don't worry. We'll run the tests again and maybe we'll see something there, until then rest and try to remember as much as you can. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, alright?"

"Alright. Thank you very much doctor…" Elizabeth started saying.

"Samuels, Ann Samuels."

"Thank you Doctor Samuels, for everything."

"No need, I'll check on you later."

Ann left the room feeling a little bit more relieved. At least the patient seemed to be alright but she could not stop thinking about those missing lab results and samples. Her phone vibrated and she checked it, seeing she'd just received a text from Bruce.

'Today at 9 okay?' it read.

She smiled. 'Perfect, come by the hospital and we'll go straight to dinner.' She typed and hit send. At least her day seemed bound to not end in the same crappy way it had begun. But she was still set on finding out what had happened with Elizabeth's blood.

* * *

Ann looked at her watch. It was twenty past nine. Twenty past nine, and the meeting she was in seemed never-ending. That stupid Jamison always had so many stupid things to say and he never shut up. She wondered if Bruce was there already, waiting for her. She waited for another half hour before she excused herself to go to 'the bathroom'.

She ran across the hallways and she found him right outside her office, sitting in a bench. He received her with a smile, definitely not looking like someone who'd been waiting for almost an hour. Damn it, he was cute. How was she supposed to concentrate on that boring meeting when she knew he was waiting for her right outside?

"I'm so sorry, this meeting won't end and stupid Jamison just won't stop talking." She excused herself, catching her breath.

"Don't worry, I'll wait here."

"You sure?"

"Yes, finish up the meeting and I'll wait for you right here."

"Alright." Out of nowhere, she pressed a quick peck on his lips and ran again. She thought about what she'd done on the way back to the conference room, she hadn't planned to kiss him like that; it naturally came out of her in that moment. Maybe he wasn't alright with it?

"That was a long break." Jamison hissed when she sat back on her seat.

She gave him a fake smile and refused to even answer. The meeting went on for another hour and a half. She'd torn to pieces the paper sheet she had on her hand and has biting her lip relentlessly. When they finally finished, she ran like the Devil himself was chasing her and found Bruce lying on the bench where she'd left him.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I did this…" she stuttered.

"It's okay." He said goofily.

"No, it's not okay, look at what time it is; I'm such a horrible person!" Ann kept rambling.

"Work is important, don't worry about it, alright?" Bruce said, without losing his smile for even a second.

"But it's so late, we'll never make it to our reservations." She complained, entering her office and hanging her white collar there.

"It's okay, we'll go some other day."

"No, no, today's been a crappy day, I need this." She trembled. "I know! There's a store open 24/7 right next to my place, we can buy something there and I'll cook for you in my place, how does that sound?"

"You don't have to…"

"I know, but I want to." She insisted.

Bruce gave her a warm smile. "Alright then."

* * *

"You don't go grocery shopping often, do you?" Ann asked in the almost empty corridors of the store they were in.

"Is it so obvious?" he grinned.

"You seem a little lost."

"Alfred usually does the shopping."

"Ah, Alfred. The 'butler'" she giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I've just never met a butler before in my life." She confessed.

Bruce snorted. "You'll have to come by someday; he's certainly dying to meet you."

"Really?" she inquired playfully.

"Oh yes, but don't tell him I said it, I'll never hear the end of it." He told her as they were approaching the cashier.

"My lips are sealed." Said Ann, putting everything they'd bought in paper bags. As soon as everything was packed up, they strolled for a few blocks until they reached Ann's apartment.

She was a little surprised of how natural everything seemed for her, they were just a normal couple buying groceries, going home after, for a late dinner. A warm feeling settled in her stomach and she couldn't stop grinning the whole time she was cooking.

Bruce was an awful kitchen help but he at least tried. She was mixing up some of the vegetables in the frying pan and Bruce was supposed to be slicing the rest of them to add them later.

She found he was having trouble and found it adorable, she kind of showed him the right (and quickest) way to slice them up and she couldn't stop laughing because every time she gave him a cooking tip, he looked like he was trying to absorb some kind of super difficult physics equation. But she enjoyed it all the same, because in between the cooking there were occasional kisses and lots of touching hands. She was having the time of her life, and she was sure it wouldn't have been the same if they had made it to the restaurant, so she'd have to be thankful to Jamison and his incessant rant.

Ann stared at Bruce as he tried his first bite. The blissful expression he showed when he tasted the vegetable dish put a huge smile across her face.

"Is it good?" she asked.

"More than good, I've never tasted anything this good in my life."

She laughed out loud. "That's because you made it. I remember the first pie I baked with my mother; I've never had a better cake than that one."

"What was it?" Bruce asked, with his mouth full.

"Chocolate and cream. It had little chips in… It was amazing." Ann watched him enjoy his meal as if he was in death row and this was his last dinner. She unintentionally smiled, just like she'd unintentionally kissed him in the hospital and she'd unintentionally agreed to go out with him when they'd met.

Their relationship seemed to be filled with unintentional stuff, but she wouldn't change it for the world. She felt a pang of fear, fear of letting herself go, fear of being falling too fast…

Before she knew it, they'd finished their dinner and she was doing the dishes with the help of her one and only kitchen help. He was drying the plates and glasses with a cloth as she passed them to him. It was much easier doing this between two people. They'd have to do it more often.

"It was a great dinner." He stated.

"I agree, better than the one we would have had in the restaurant for sure."

"Absolutely." Bruce smiled at her and begun to caress her hand with his as he got closer and closer, so close she could almost feel every inch of his skin against hers, radiating heat and passion.

She positioned her arms in his chest and leaned in to kiss him. He received her lips with equal enthusiasm; he held her cheek with his hand, making the kiss more intimate as she opened her mouth and felt him deepen it. She sighed, she was happy, she was more than content, she gave her whole self in that kiss and it was making her toes curl.

He took control of the kiss and gently pushed her against one of the walls of the kitchen, where he almost melt into her. They'd barely had time to breathe when he kissed her again, this time more roughly but equally satisfying.

She felt his hands wander around her body, this kiss was different from all the other ones they'd shared, it was more passionate and it reflected an unsated need. She could feel him cup her bottom against the wall, pressing her against him even more. Her hands were now around his neck and she was kissing him like a maniac, like an addict.

He bluntly started kissing her neck, making her throw her head back to gain him better access. He kissed her neck like his life depended on it, like he was thirsty of her. Her breathing was quickening and her heart was pounding in response of his kisses, which were turning more and more intimate by the second.

She felt him go crazy when a moan involuntarily left her lips when he began to nibble her neck more passionately.

"Tell me to stop." He mumbled between kisses. "Or I won't be able to."

But she could not do such thing, not when her body was burning up and she could only think of him, of his kisses and his hands roaming all over her body. She kissed him harder in response and started unbuttoning his shirt. It had way too many buttons but Ann was finally able to undo it and slid it down his shoulders. She was shocked, she'd never needed someone the way she needed him, it was so unlike her to get this carried away, but she couldn't help it.

"Bedroom…" she heard him mutter, going back to attacking her neck.

******M Rated - Skip if you want** ****

She took his hand and guided him towards her bed, where she let him take off her shirt and resume their heated kiss. She was almost flying; it was like magic and electricity all at once. His expert hands caressed her back once, twice, before they unhooked her bra and where she was supposed to feel exposed, she felt happy and excited. She felt right.

He cupped her breast as he lowered her to the bed after carefully pushing her to the edge and placing himself on top of her. She felt him lick and caress her breasts as she struggled with unbuttoning the jeans he was wearing. When he realized she was having trouble, she helped him and threw them off the bed.

His touch was warm and welcoming; he was making her feel like she was the most beautiful woman in the whole world. He slid his hands towards her pants and swiftly undid them, taking them off as well. He looked her in the eye as he got rid of their underwear. She moaned as she felt his erection pushing against her leg. She felt possessed by a need she'd never known before, the undeniable need of being closer to him, of feeling him.

Bruce moaned her name as she slipped her hand and began playfully caressing his manhood. "What are you doing to me?" he whispered in her ear as he slid a condom in it.

She kissed him again and felt him position himself in her entrance. She couldn't help but scream when he thrust inside her, her legs wrapped themselves around his hips as she met him, thrust for thrust. It was slow and gentle at first, she felt him quicken the pace in response of her own hips, which seemed to have a mind of their own.

"Oh God…" she almost sobbed. It had never felt that way before, with nobody. Her body was in command and there was nothing she could do except going with the flow. Her nails started digging grooves down his back as he slammed into her over and over again. Her insides were burning with desire and she could feel her climax approach as he kept thrusting. She could feel her brain bursting and her screaming seemed to pull his trigger and he let himself go shortly after, collapsing on top of her, both breathless and exhausted.

Almost without realizing it, they both positioned themselves spooning and slowly, sleep took them both.

******M Rated OVER** ****

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Ann was on cloud nine. She was making pancakes in Bruce's shirt. It was another first for her; she'd never worn any of her boyfriend's clothing the morning after, but it was lying on the floor and she just couldn't help it. What was happening to her? It looked like she'd slept with a hanger in her mouth; her smile was refusing to leave after last night.

And what a night it was… She'd never complained about her sex life but she'd clearly been doing something wrong her whole life. Never before had she felt more complete or sated than that morning, and at the same time she felt she'd never have enough of him.

"Morning." She heard him say when he appeared on her kitchen with a grin on his face. He was shirtless and barefoot, and was wearing only his pants. He looked good enough to eat.

She hadn't had much of a chance to appreciate his body but it was gorgeous, well-toned and muscled. And also, full of scars that she'd also failed to see last night.

"Morning." She replied with a smile.

"It smells delicious." He hugged her from behind and kissed her neck. This was intimate and private, and it filled her stomach with butterflies.

"Don't get used to it, pancakes are bad for you." She giggled as she threw her head backwards. "Did you sleep well?"

"Like a log."

"Good." She kissed him while he playfully stroked her stomach. "What are you doing?" She half asked, half laughed.

"Are you done with the frying pan?" He asked with his lips still buried in her neck.

"Yeah, why?"

She squeaked as she felt him grab her and carry her bridal style. "I'm nowhere near done with you yet."

* * *

"Ruby, bed 3 needs an MRI and I have to do my rounds." Ann explained to a fellow doctor in the ER. She handed her the chart.

"You look happy today." Ruby said, taking it from her hand.

Ann's only response was a smile and then she took the elevator to reach her office, where she'd get her patients' charts. She felt like she was glowing, would everybody notice it?

When she was getting to her rounds, she ran into Susie who was just her usual perky self. She wondered how much it would take for her to look at her or ask her something inappropriate.

"Hey! We're going to have a picnic with the boys Saturday afternoon, you wanna come?" She asked.

"Sure, I'll ask Bruce." She replied.

"Awesome." And then she looked at Ann and her eyes opened wide. "Oh my God!" she yelled. "You had sex!"

"Shhhh!" Replied Ann awkwardly.

Susie laughed like a maniac. "Look at you all glowy and satisfied!"

"Can you please lower your voice?" she requested, but as much as she tried to be mad at her friend she was too happy that morning so she ended up laughing.

"Oh God… Was it THAT good?"

Ann bit her lip. She still couldn't wipe off the smile from her face. "I'm only going to say this once, it was amazing, and that's all you're getting out of me today."

"We'll talk tomorrow then." Remarked Susie as she left for her own rounds. "I want details!"

She shushed her once again before resuming her task. She was just passing through one of the corridors when her eye inadvertently checked on Katherine Armstrong's room. To her surprise, her bed was empty. She walked inside the room and there was nobody in it.

"That's weird…" she said to herself. She walked to the nurses' desk. "Hey Dorothy, what happened to Katherine Armstrong in the 283?"

"Did nobody tell you?" she looked gloomily at her. "She died early this morning."

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**A/N:** So? How was it? The plot thickens slowly! And about the smut... it's the first time I've ever written something so explicit and it was really hard for me, please let me know what you thought!


	8. Chapter 8

I didn't take so long this time did I? These have been a couple of pretty busy weeks, but I wanted to get to this point of the plot so badly! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favourited and followed, if you cant take two seconds of your time to send me a really tiny review, it would mean the world to me!

To those of you anxious for Batman to make an appearance, he's coming REAL SOON, in like one or two chapters he will definitely show up, don't worry!

I think this is the longest chapter I've ever published, I hope it's not too long, a lot of interesting things happen, I'll be waiting for your reviews!

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**Disclaimer:** Nope...

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**CHAPTER 8**

"Hey sweetie, how are you? I heard about your patient… What are you doing?" Susie said entering Ann's office.

She walked into the small bathroom the office had where her friend was changing into scrubs when she should be ready to go home.

"You're not going home?" she inquired.

"No." Ann replied curtly.

"Where are you going then?"

"To the morgue."

"The morgue?" Susie asked, puzzled.

"Yes." Ann was pulling her hair into a bun and looked devastated.

"Why?"

Ann sighed deeply and turned around to face her friend. "I asked the forensic surgeon if I could be present during the autopsy."

"You did what?" Her friend snapped. "Why do you torture yourself this way? It's not like you! It's not like it's the first patient you've lost."

"This is different."

"Why? Why is it different?" Susie sounded genuinely worried.

"She was fine. I went through the video of the operation the whole day, Jefferson worked wonderfully and her post-op labs were perfect, this shouldn't have happened."

"Sometimes people never wake up from the anesthesia, you know that, it sucks but it happens. You have to get over this." Susie said, holding her friend's shoulders.

"I told her she would be alright. I told her son she would be alright and now she's dead. So don't tell me to get over it, I have to get to the bottom of this." Ann rubbed her eyes and then moved her hands to her hair in frustration. "She didn't like being alone, her son was here constantly, or a nurse, or a friend… and now she's down there all alone…" She explained, her voice breaking a little bit.

Susie bit her lip in worry. "Okay. What can I do to help?"

Ann smiled warmly. "Nothing, just this thing you're doing right now."

Her friend smiled back. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will."

And just like that she left, leaving Ann alone once again. She took a deep breath and took the elevator for the morgue. She wasn't a big fan of this part of the hospital, who in their right minds would be? But this was something she felt like she had to do, she owed to Katherine, to her son and to herself.

"Ah, Doctor Samuels, I was about to start." The on call forensic surgeon Miles O'Brian greeted her.

"Don't mind me." She replied, but she couldn't take her eyes off Katherine's pale face. For the first time in a long time, she felt like crying for a lost patient. O'Brian went to get a recorder and she got closer to Katherine's dead body.

"Katherine Armstrong, 43 years old…" she heard him begin to work.

She knew the drill; she knew how an autopsy worked. She knew it was going to be unpleasant and hard. She took Katherine's hand in silence and closed her eyes. '_I'm sorry, forgive me'_ she thought, hoping for it to reach Katherine's soul wherever she was.

Ann let the surgeon work and tried to be helpful. She could find no abnormalities on Katherine's body; she started to feel antsy and desperate. No weird masses, nothing suspicious, nothing clear that would explain her sudden death.

"What is this?" Ann mentioned while she was examining the body. She saw an almost invisible hole on her left abdomen. She took a magnifier to get a closer look.

"Huh, looks like a needle hole, maybe she was administered something through it."

"No, nothing of the sort appears on her records." Ann stretched out the skin around the hole to check for anything.

"It's a really small hole, maybe it's nothing."

"It's not nothing." She said, clenching her jaw.

O'Brian rolled his eyes, playing down her conclusion. "It's a fairly conclusive case of complications for anesthesia Samuels, I'm sorry. I don't know what you were looking for but it's just not there."

"Did you take blood samples for testing?" she asked, still suspicious.

"There's no need, Ann. Seriously, it's pretty clear case." He insisted.

"I think it's important, it could be important, please O'Brian."

He sighed and nodded. "Alright, if it means that much to you, but if the chief comes down to yell at me for running unnecessary tests I'm telling him it was your idea."

"Sounds fair."

He began sewing her up again and looked at Ann. "You don't have to stay for this part you know…"

"I know." She said absent-mindedly. She took a stool and sat right next to the table, holding Katherine's hand. She knew her colleague probably though she was crazy. '_I'm with you, you're not alone. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry_.'

* * *

Bruce's lips were relentlessly attacking Ann's as he cornered her during their elevator ride. His masterful hands roamed around her back making her sigh in contentment. She met his embrace equally passionate and smiled as his attack resumed to her neck. Ann heard the elevator bell ring but Bruce just wouldn't stop and she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"We're here already."

"I know." he muttered between kisses.

"Your neighbors are gonna to call the cops for public scandal."

"So?"

"So…" Ann explained, finally managing to step away from Bruce. "…I wouldn't like to be remembered as the skank who had sex with Bruce Wayne on an elevator."

"You could do a lot worse you know…" Ann playfully slapped Bruce's shoulder.

"So this is where you live." Ann stated when the doors opened to his penthouse.

"Uh huh." He said. "Problem?"

"No! It's just, you know, a little flashy for my liking." She said approaching an ornament on the wall. It was a golden tiger head, with an open mouth so the fangs were showing. "This looks great." She stated sarcastically.

Bruce laughed. "It was a gift."

"From who? The Shah of Persia?" she asked jokingly.

Two days had passed since Katherine's sudden death. Bruce and her friends had been trying really hard to cheer her up and it was kind of working. Especially since her newest patient, Elizabeth James, was doing much better. She'd still have to stay in the hospital for a while, but her recovery filled her with hope that maybe she wasn't a mess who couldn't do anything right. The thing that angered her the most was that her new blood labs had come back clean, just like she had expected.

"Trust me; you don't want to know him." He replied, giving her a sweet kiss on the cheek. This was an extension of the newfound intimacy between the two. It seemed like he wasn't trying to keep his hands off her anymore. In fact, quite the contrary. She was glad to see how he sometimes struggled to stay away from her.

"I hope you're not talking about me."

Ann turned around and faced the one and only Alfred Bruce kept talking about. He received her with a contagious smile.

"Of course not." She replied. "It's very nice to meet the infamous Alfred."

"Infamous? What have you been telling her Master Wayne?"

"Only good things, I swear." Bruce justified himself amidst laughter.

"I hope so." Alfred then smiled to Ann radiantly. "It's very nice to meet you too, doctor Samuels."

"Please, just call me Ann."

"Alright Miss Ann." He replied. "I have prepared you a snack in case you were hungry, tea with cookies and some slices of chocolate cake."

"Alfred, I think I love you." She stated walking inside.

She was oblivious of the look Bruce and Alfred shared before watching step into the huge living room.

* * *

After their snack, Alfred made some delicious dinner for the two of them to enjoy in the penthouse. She'd liked the English butler; she realized now he was more like a father to Bruce. She'd appreciated his sense of humor and the nice and polite way in which he had treated her, it made her believe Bruce didn't bring many of his dates home and she felt a little bit special for that.

Ann had thought maybe she'd end up sleeping there since the evening kept stretching on until well into the night but Bruce was busy that night. He wasn't very specific and she was feeling so happy that night after such a crappy week, she wasn't even going to question it.

To make it up to her, he gave her some truly breathtaking good night kisses when he drove her back to her place.

The next morning Ann resumed her daily routine of making breakfast in a hurry because she'd preferred to lay in bed for those sacred five more minutes after the alarm clock rang instead of gaining some tranquility afterwards. She was a masochist that way.

She was gathering all her stuff to finally depart for the hospital when her phone started ringing. It was Susie.

Ann snorted derisively; it was just like her to call when she was late. "What?" she almost barked. "No, of course not, I'm late Susie, why would I be watching TV this early in the morning?" she snapped opening the entrance hall. She encountered herself surrounded by journalists, video and photo cameras all over her, who started screaming questions at her as her mouth and eyes opened widely. She slammed the door shut but she could still hear the yelling from outside.

"What the hell is going on?"

* * *

It had taken her almost two hours to finally reach her office in the hospital. To the time spent getting outside of her apartment and getting inside of her workplace she had to add the time it took her to get rid of some of her colleagues, some of which she hadn't even talked to in her life. It was hell. Everybody kept asking her about her relationship with Bruce.

Had she been too naïve to think that their relationship would stay between the two of them for the rest of their lives?

She slammed her office door, making that her second one to slam that particular day. Susie was already waiting inside.

"What is going on?" she desperately shrieked to her friend.

"You're the new celebrity in town, babe." Susie replied with a smile.

"It's not funny!"

"I think it's a little funny that you hate those magazines and now you're in every single one of their covers. Ah, the irony."

"Yes, I love irony." Ann answered taking her coat off. "What happened? Where…? I just…"

"You guys got a little too lovey-dovey in front of your apartment yesterday." Susie explained while handing her a magazine with her picture on it. It read: 'Bruce's new girl: True love or Gotham's newest gold digger?'

Ann took the magazine and threw it to her trash in anger.

"Hey! That's mine!" Ann's gave her a murderous look. "Okay, you can throw it if it makes you feel better."

"This sucks."

"I know… Have you talked to Bruce?"

"He won't pick up the damn phone." Ann put on her white collar. She'd been unable to reach Bruce and it wasn't for lack of trying. Just one more thing to piss her off that morning.

"You should try again, maybe he can help."

"How is he going to help? Is he going to have the Batman get rid of all the journalists camping outside of my apartment?"

"Hey! I'm just trying to help! Don't get mad at me! I'm not the one dating Gotham's Golden Boy!"

Ann sighed. "I'm sorry." She muttered. "It's being a crappy day and it has only started."

Susie got closer to Ann and caressed her arm trying to comfort her. "I know. The life of a celebrity is never easy." She received another threatening look from her friend. "I'll shut up now."

Despite the constant mockery and questioning, Ann's stressful day was finally coming to an end. She entered Elizabeth's room completely exhausted.

"Hey Doctor Ann." She was greeted by her patient. "Tough day?"

"You could say that."

"No kidding. I'd have tough days if I had to stay away from that hunk to go to work." Elizabeth laughed while looking at the TV. Apparently they were broadcasting a special on Bruce and her. Just peachy. "Is he really your boyfriend?"

Ann looked at the TV screen. There was Bruce, dressed in one of finest suits, in the red carpet of one of the latest charity events he'd gone to. He was a hunk alright, but her boyfriend? They'd never referred to each other as such but they were behaving like any other couple she knew.

"Apparently he is."

"He's so hot." The young girl addressed. "You did good girl, what an ass…"

That last comment made Ann laugh. "Yeah, no complaints on the ass area from me." She joked. "How are you feeling, any dizziness?"

"Nope, I'm ready to go home."

"Didn't look like that yesterday when you threw up your lunch like there was no tomorrow." Ann smiled.

"Oh, come on, that's yesterday's news."

Ann laughed again at Elizabeth's carefree tone, like she hadn't been in the brink of death only days ago. "We'll run some new tests in case we find something new. Still no memories of what happened?"

"No, I can't remember a thing. I'm sorry doc." Her patient looked disheartened every time she mentioned the incident.

"Don't worry. It'll come back when it has to." Ann reassured her. "Okay, I'm going to finish my rounds, I'll check on you again when I am done and give you some more details of Gotham's newest gold digger. What do you say?"

"You know how to raise a girl's spirits Annie." Elizabeth replied with a smile.

Ann walked to the ER then, to make sure everything was in order with the residents. It was a little overflown and when Dorothy asked her if she could bring her some supplies she just couldn't say no.

She took the elevator again, between some staring and pointing and finally reached the storage room where they kept most of what Dorothy needed. Unfortunately, it was packed with people and she just wasn't in the mood so she walked a little bit more for the almost unused but always full storage room that almost nobody used because it was a little farther away.

When she walked inside, however, she wasn't alone. There was a man kneeling and looking at some boxes. She didn't recognize him and he wasn't wearing a uniform.

"Hey! Who are you?" she asked, in shock.

The man turned around and in a matter of seconds she felt a throbbing pain in her head. And then everything turned black.

* * *

"So all in all, not Ann's best day, huh?" she heard someone say next to her.

Ann struggled to open her eyes; the pain in her head made it all the more difficult. When she finally managed to do so, she found Susie, Jack and Dorothy all over her. The ER was now a mess and there were six or seven police officers roaming around.

"What…" she mumbled.

"She's awake! Oh, thank God." Susie said. She could hear in her voice she'd been crying.

"Annie, can you remember what happened?" her boss asked.

"A psycho hit me in the head, that's what happened, ouch!" she complained when Susie touched her forehead.

"Do you know where you are? Can you follow my finger?" Asked Jack, moving his index finger from left to right.

"You're going to need some stitches." Added Susie.

"I'm in the hospital where I've worked for six years, my name's Ann Samuels and I don't have a concussion, just the worst day in the world." she protested, trying to get up from the bed.

"No, no, no, no standing up, sit still while I saw your forehead." Her friend held her still where she was.

"Annie! Are you okay? What happened?" she heard someone yell while running towards her.

When her eyes fixed, she saw that it was Bruce.

"You called him?" Ann whined to Susie.

"I didn't know what to do! You were unconscious and wouldn't wake up!" she justified.

"I'm fine; I just have a killer headache." Ann explained while Jack started stitching her up.

"I'm so sorry, I was on meetings all day and I…" Bruce started, talking really fast, clearly a nervous wreck.

"It's okay." Ann held his hand in reassurance. "Don't worry about that, alright?"

"How can I not worry?" he squeezed her hand. "First all the press harassing you and now this." Bruce gently kissed her temple. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." She hissed through the pain of Jack's stitches. "This is nothing."

"Six stitches is not 'nothing'. And who knows what could have happened if that awful man hadn't run away but do more damage…" Susie said, her voice breaking a little bit.

"Hey, stop, both of you, I'm fine, you should be the ones comforting me, remember? I'm the one with a breach on my head." She joked around, trying to ease the tension. Where Susie looked scared, her boss looked angry as hell.

"You're right." Susie said, wiping her eyes a little bit.

When Jack finished, Bruce sat next to her, caressing her arms and hands non-stop. He looked truly scared.

"I'm fine." She whispered lovingly.

"We'll see." He replied, now stroking her cheek.

"What's with all the police in here?" she then asked.

"Are you kidding?" Susie looked outraged. "You were attacked in a hospital, in the middle of the day, the guy just ran away and nobody knows what he was doing here, they're conducting an investigation."

"Excuse me, doctor Samuels? I'm Commissioner Gordon, we'll need you to come by the police station later for an official statement, but are you feeling well enough to answer a few questions so we can start looking for whoever did this to you?" an officer approached her and then looked at Bruce.

"Can't it wait, Commissioner?" Bruce asked.

"It's okay, I'm good. Ask away." Ann interrupted Bruce.

"Can you remember what happened? How you were attacked?"

"I entered the storage room and a man was kneeling down, looking at something… When I tried to grab his attention he just turned at hit me in the head. I can't remember anything else before waking up here."

"Do you remember how that man looked like?"

"Uhm… I didn't see him very well, it was dark and it's all happened so fast…" Ann stated. "He was tall, I think, with long hair. And he had a scar right here." She said pointing to her lip. "But I'm afraid that's all I can remember."

"Don't worry; maybe it will come back to you. We'll arrange for a drawer to come and help you make a facial composite."

Ann nodded.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience ma'am; we'll keep in touch." He smiled at her and left after she smiled back.

"This is your prescription." Jack announced, giving it to Bruce instead of her.

She abruptly took it from his hand. "This is a really heavy pain medication."

"Your head is going to hurt more than it hurts right now, trust me, you'll need it." Her boss replied. "Make sure she takes one every eight hours" he looked at Bruce again, and then turned to look back at her. "And no work for at least two days, and then we'll discuss it."

"Oh, come on!" she protested.

"If you come back before I allow it, I'll make sure you only see an OR from the gallery for the next six months, are we clear?" Jack threatened.

"Fine…" she finally caved.

"You're in charge, make her sleep and don't let her operate heavy machinery." Jack instructed Bruce before he left for her discharge papers.

"That's going to be easier said than done." Bruce said to himself.

* * *

**A/N:** Thoughts? ;)


	9. Chapter 9

WOW, it's been SOOOO damn long, I'm sorry! I have a good excuse though, I lost my password and when I tried to get it back I found out that the email associated to this account was like really old and I couldn't change the password or get it back... I feel so bad! But good news... the story is almost finished already since I haven't stopped writing! Please don't hate me too much! This chapter is mostly transitional but I promise the next one is going to be good, I wasn't going to say anything but it will be from Bruce's perspective!

If you want to, you can follow my tumblr (notyour-lovemonkey) where I've still not written much (for now only a couple Supernatural ficlets) but I will be posting this story as well as taking requests about my favourite couple :) Also, you'll be able to see that I haven't died and all that.

And now, the chapter, finally something a lot of people have been asking for! Thank you for bearing with me, I love you guys!

_**PS:**_ Hannah (my beta), if you're here, please send me back your email because I lost it too T_T I'm such a mess!

* * *

**DISCLAIMER:** Nope... Nothing

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

They were leaving the ER as Susie explained Bruce how Ann's medication worked for the hundredth time.

"I think he understands, Suze." Ann said, starting to feel her headache worsen.

Susie sighed and looked directly at Bruce, ignoring her friend. "If you need anything, you have my number; don't hesitate to call, no matter how late."

"Thank you." Bruce answered, smiling charmingly.

"Intoxicated Annie is so much fun… I'm kind of jealous." Her friend replied with a chuckle.

"Yes, it's going to be a hoot." Ann stated groggily.

"Please, call if something's up." Susie insisted, clearly still worried.

"I will, don't worry." Bruce softly squeezed Susie's arm trying to relax her. Susie nodded and finally let them go.

He carefully drove them back to Ann's house, trying to avoid the media as much as he could. He'd managed to lose them and they were able to get back to Ann's apartment without much trouble.

The first thing Bruce did was make Ann take her pills. She'd struggled, insisting she was fine but in the end she knew what she had to do. She'd never taken strong painkillers so she didn't really know what to expect. So far she was feeling fine, a little dizzy but she felt such comfort when Bruce brought her an herbal tea to the bed where she was lying.

"Smells good." She said, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her forehead.

"Are you feeling any better?" He asked her, sitting next to her in the bed.

She nodded although her head still hurt like crazy.

"Don't even scare me like that again." He told her with a serious look before caressing her cheek lovingly.

"I won't." She said, feeling weirder by the second.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" He asked, worried.

"I'm good, sooooo good." Ann said a little too goofily. "Oh… You're so cute."

Bruce laughed and kissed her forehead. "You're very cute too." He answered, amused.

Ann held his hand between hers. "I know what you mean." She stated. She smiled and looked at the screen of the TV which was turned off. She suddenly turned her head to look back at him and giggled quietly all over again.

"Do you want something to eat?" He asked.

"Do you have a strawberry lollipop?" she replied really fast.

"No." he answered still sitting next to her. "Do you want a strawberry lollipop?"

"No." she replied casually, "Do you?" She asked, raising one of her eyebrows, as if he'd been the one to bring it up.

"I think you need to sleep for a little while." Bruce chuckled, clearly amused by the situation.

"Yeah, probably." Ann said, lying down. She then looked at him, confused. "What were we talking about?"

"Nothing important." He kissed her forehead.

She began to settle in the bed when something startled her. "Oh my God, Bruce." She said, worried. "I think this is really getting to me. I hear music in my head."

"That's your phone, Annie." He chuckled. "I'll get it. You need to rest, don't worry about anything, I'll be here when you wake up." Bruce started to caress Ann's hair as she closed her eyes.

"Okay." She mumbled, snuggling against her pillow.

* * *

"This is a bad idea." Ann said nervously as the elevator was going up. "We can still back down from this, you know. It's not too late"

Bruce slid his arm around her waist. "It's not that bad…"

"Is this payback for having to take care of my while I was drugged?"

He laughed. "The press knows we're together, I may as well brag about it in front of my pompous friends."

"Okay, is this about the press, your pompous friends or you not wanting to go to a boring party alone?"

"Guilty as charged."

"I knew it." Ann said, playfully hitting his shoulder.

The elevator's doors opened and she found herself in hell once again, an incessant flow of people who couldn't wait to meet Bruce Wayne's new 'girlfriend'. They shook hands and made small talk with a bunch of strangers who didn't care about anything else other than the latest gossip.

It was boring but Ann had to admit it was nice having someone to roll her eyes at who understood her and Bruce was just that. His hand stood on her waist for almost the whole evening and he didn't leave her side once. She felt like a part of something important for him, like she mattered, like he cared about her. The butterflies inside her stomach hadn't stopped flying around since their first kiss and she could still feel them. She felt stupid for letting it happen so easily but there was nothing she could about it anymore.

She was being introduced to so many people she lost count. The last one being a woman who had rambled about some being she assumed was a dog and her eating habits for fifteen minutes.

"Tell Alfred Fifí sends her regards to him." The woman finished her monologue, leaving them alone again.

"Is that a person's name, or was she still talking about that dog?" She asked once said woman had finally left their side.

"She was talking about a dog?" Bruce replied taking a sip of his glass of champagne, making her laugh.

"Mister Wayne, it's good to see you here." Ann heard behind her.

When she turned she found herself looking at a black man with a big smile on his face.

"Ann, let me introduce you to Lucius Fox, Wayne Enterprise's CEO and my dear friend." Bruce said after shaking the man's hand. "This is doctor Ann Samuels."

"It's a pleasure meeting you, doctor Samuels. I've heard so much about you." The man replied.

"Oh, really?" Ann looked at Bruce inquisitively. "You're going to have to tell me about some of them, Mr. Fox."

The man laughed openly. "I would but I'm afraid Mr. Wayne here would kill me afterwards."

"Nonsense, who would run my business better than you Lucius?" Bruce replied.

"That's true." Fox laughed again wholeheartedly. "How are you this evening, doctor Samuels?" Asked him.

"Well, these parties are not my idea of fun, Mister Fox." Ann explained with a sigh and a smile. "And please don't call me doctor Samuels, just Ann will do."

"Very well, I will call you Ann if you'll call me Lucius." He replied with a warm smile.

"You got yourself a deal, Lucius."

"See? Successful deals anywhere he goes, how could I ever manage without him?" Bruce interrupted, shaking Lucius' hand once again.

She was starting to really like him, he seemed like the only other sincere person in the whole party. They spent a few minutes talking and then he excused himself. Suddenly she found herself chatting with a bunch of people, the majority of them quite older than her and Bruce.

"My son plays polo often with Mr. Wayne, Doctor Samuels." One of the women proudly explained to her.

"Oh!" Ann nodded like it was the most interesting thing she'd heard in her life. With her smile still on she looked at Bruce and muttered. "Polo? Really?" She asked quietly for only him to hear.

He made a face and gave her a knowing look.

The subject quickly changed to her incident in the hospital, which people kept trying to remind her of, even though all she wanted was to put it behind her. "Dear, I would have been terrified! How do you manage to go back there every day? I would certainly be scared to death." Another woman stated.

"I have faith that the Hospital's security team and Commissioner Gordon will do everything in their power to prevent anything like that to happen again." Ann gave them her rehearsed answer for whenever she was asked that question.

"You are very brave, dear. With everything we hear about those evil criminals and that Batman still loose…" Said the woman from before.

Ann felt a pang of electricity go through her spine but she forced herself to shut up.

"Oh yes, can you believe they still haven't gotten hold of him?" The other woman added.

"I think Batman has done more for this city than all of us right here ever will." She finally said, calmly.

The two women looked at her like she'd said she'd murdered both their pets in cold blood. Everybody shut up and listened carefully to the exchange of words.

"But he's a murderer." One of them said matter-of-factly.

"Do you really think so?" Ann asked. "Someone who's saved so many lives doesn't turn into a murderer just like that."

The other woman laughed patronizingly. "Oh dear, you're so naïve and idealist."

Ann laughed as well. "Maybe I am, but knowing he's out there helps me sleep better at night." She explained, seeing that nobody in that group would understand her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom for a second.

When she was walking towards it, she didn't realise the way Bruce stared at her the whole time.

* * *

"Well." She said stepping out of the car, in front of her apartment. "That was pretty boring."

"You think?" Bruce replied, absentmindedly.

Ann turned as she was climbing the stairs. "Are you alright? You've been so quiet since we left the party."

"Yeah. Of course I am." He gave her a small smile which grew bigger as he watched her take her heels off her feet as soon as she'd closed the door to the apartment.

"Okay." She said, still a little suspicious. "I'm gonna make some cocoa, you want some?"

"Sure." He watched her walk into her kitchen still in her gown from the party. "Listen, did you mean what you said back in the party?"

Ann stopped walking and turned to look at him. "What I said about what?"

"When that woman started speaking about the Batman and…"

"Oh!" she realized. "Is that was this is about? Why? Don't you agree with what I said?"

"That's not what I'm saying." Bruce touched his face a little nervously. "It's just… Did you really mean it?"

Ann gave him a big smile. "Of course I did, I'd think you already knew that I never say anything I don't mean, although sometimes I think I should… That woman probably thinks I'm a crazy hippie." She laughed and the microwave beeped, letting them know their midnight beverage was ready. "That's our cocoa, do you want some sugar?"

She never got an answer. Instead he walked towards her and took her in his arms, giving her a kiss that would leave her breathless for the rest of the night. She instantly forgot all about their milk and gave her all to that kiss and to the passion he'd awakened in her. He tilted her head with one hand and started leaving a trail of hurried kisses in her neck as he took her legs in his hands and raised her, her legs locking themselves around his waist as if they had a will of their own. She moaned as her back hit the cold wall and his hands roamed around her legs and kissed him again with everything she got.

If this is the way they'd end up after a boring party, she'd make sure this wouldn't be their last one.

* * *

Almost a week later, Ann was allowed to get back to work. Her boss told her she'd have to take it easy the first days so she spent her first hours talking to the nurses and her colleagues to see what she'd missed with her patients.

"So." Ann said entering Elizabeth James' room. "The nurses tell me you haven't eaten breakfast and lunch today. Is everything okay? I thought you were doing better with your appetite."

The doctor looked at her patient, who looked back at her looking like a mess.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, alarmed.

"Yeah, it's just…" Elizabeth shrugged and then looked through the window. "I remembered something…"

"What is it?" Ann asked her, feeling her nervousness. "You can tell me."

"That day… The day you found me. I was just… I've been sort of in a bad place for a while, I closed up to everyone… I was sick of all of it, I was sick of my parents overprotecting me, my job that's leading to nowhere, I just…" Elizabeth's eyes started to fill with unshed tears. "I had never done anything like it… I swear."

"I believe you." Ann reassured her. "Go on."

"I know this guy… He's worked in my company for a couple of months now, everybody knows he sells… stuff but nobody knows for sure. I went to him and asked… Asked him if he had something that could help me stop feeling like a loser, you know?" she explained. "He took me to this place and offered me something, I don't remember how he called it, and I took it. I took it without thinking about the consequences, about what could happen to me…" a silent tear escaped her eye, quickly followed by a couple more. "Please, don't tell my parents about this, I feel so ashamed… I don't want to disappoint them anymore."

"Listen, I won't tell your parents, you're not a minor and I don't have to." Ann said, stroking her hand. "But I think you have to tell them. I've met them and I don't think they would be the slightest disappointed in you, maybe that will help them understand they should lower the pressure on you, don't you think?" she offered her a handkerchief."

"I don't know, I feel so lost." Elizabeth said, drying her tears.

Ann bit her lip, feeling a little helpless. "Talk to your parents, I'm sure you'll feel the hell of a lot better."

Her patient nodded. "I'm so sorry for blurting this all on you."

"You don't need to apologize. That's what I'm here for." Ann smiled warmly. "But we need to talk to the police and find out something about what they gave you, you don't want this to happen to somebody else, do you?"

Elizabeth looked at her with a panicked expression on her face. "Of course not."

"Then you need to tell me your coworker's name so the police can run an investigation."

Her patient nodded. "His name is Kevin, Kevin Matthews."

"Thank you, that was very brave."

Elizabeth sighed, still very vulnerable. In that moment, her parents walked in the hospital room. When Elizabeth's father saw her daughter's state his expression matched hers.

"Baby, is everything alright?" he asked, oblivious to Ann's presence.

Ann knew that was her queue to leave and she did so quietly as she watched Elizabeth tell her family what she'd just told her. Her smile was bittersweet as she picked her phone from her pocket. She had one important phone call to make.

* * *

It was a lazy afternoon. Ann had a day off and since the press was still a little 'concerned' with their whereabouts they'd decided to spend it in Bruce's penthouse, watching some movies and basically doing nothing while enjoying each other's company.

It was almost completely dark and so far it was going perfectly fine. Bruce was sitting in the couch reading some reports from Wayne Enterprises while Ann, with her head on his lap, was reading the latest book Susie had lent her, promising it was the best one she'd ever read. It was the thirteenth time she'd said it but she had to admit this particular one was pretty good and she was hooked.

The TV was on but neither of them were paying much attention to it, it was weird for Ann to feel so comfortable. They weren't talking much in that particular moment but there was just no need to. She felt comfortable and like herself around him, which she couldn't reckon feeling even after three years with Jeremy, but she couldn't help it.

"Hey, do you want to order a pizza and watch a movie?" he offered, taking a sip of a coffee cup he had on a side table next to the couch.

Ann raised from the position she was in and sat next to him. "Sure. What movie?"

"Do you have anything in mind?"

"No, as long as it's not a movie about doctors we can watch anything you want." She replied with a smile.

The moment was interrupted by Alfred, who entered the living room and took the remote from the table.

"Sorry to interrupt but I think will be of interest." He said, changing the channel.

Both Bruce and Ann looked at the TV where a newscaster was talking to the camera, visibly shocked.

'The bomb seems to have been settled on Winston Mall, in the heart of Gotham, the police and the firefighters are still trying to get some people outside the structure and we still have no official number of casualties, the victims are being taken to Gotham General Hospital but there's no wonder…'

The both stared at the tv screen horrified by the images being shown in it. Ann had stopped listening and looked right at Bruce.

"I need to go to the hospital." She stated, her voice trembling.

"Of course, Alfred, can you drive her?" Bruce asked.

"Certainly, Master Wayne, please follow me miss Samuels."

"I'm sorry." Ann kissed Bruce quickly on the lips and hurried like she couldn't remember hurrying before in her life.

"Don't worry, be careful."

She nodded and followed Alfred oblivious to the look he and Bruce shared before she got inside the elevator.

* * *

The ER was a mess, new patients entered by the minute and there were almost not enough hands to attend them all. Ann went from patient to patient trying to assign them to the correct specialist and keeping the charts in order.

"Damn it, this woman needs to go to the OR right away." She yelled to an intern. "Go find doctor Jenner now!"

She crossed the entire ER trying to find Jack White but he was nowhere to be found.

Dorothy approached her. "There are more incoming, do we have enough room?"

"We'll have to make room." She replied. "Where the hell is Jamison? I've been paging him for like a half hour."

"I'll call him, just do your thing." The nurse told her.

Ann gave her a knowing look and watched as the paramedics brought a man with a big bruise on his head.

"What do we have?" she asked, taking a chart from a table to keep it from getting lost.

"Daniel Hayes, 46 years old, a peace of concrete hit him in the head, he's lucid and hasn't lost consciousness."

"Great." Ann said while they were entering one of the boxes. "To the table in one, two, three." And they moved the man from the stretcher. She took the stethoscope and started auscultating the patient. "Sir? Do you feel any pain on your chest?" she asked.

"No." he moaned.

"I hear a murmur, get a neuro specialist here and I'm going to run other tests." She explained another nurse. "I need to dress this other wound, can you help me?"

But she received no answer. In fact, when she turned around she saw that the doctors and patients were unusually silent and still.

"What the hell?" she complained, getting outside the tiny room. "What's going on?" she yelled.

Then she looked at the ER door and her heart stopped for a second. There, standing with a little girl in his arms was the Batman.

* * *

**A/N:** So? What did you think? Please leave me a review and you'll make me the world's happiest woman!


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